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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


The  Vogue  of  Medieval  Chivalric 

Romance  During  the  English 

Renaissance 


BY 

RONALD  S.  CRANE 


AN  ABSTRACT  OF 

A  THESIS 

PRESENTED    TO    THE    FACULTY    OF    THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    IN 

PARTIAL  FULFILMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS   FOR 

THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


VUf*  (SoUtgiat»  ^nmm 

GEORGE  BANTA  PUBLISHING  COMPANV 

MENASHA.  WISCONSIN 

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PREFACE 

That  the  medieval  taste  for  romances  of  chivalric  adventure, 
far  from  dying  out  with  the  advent  of  printing  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  English  Renaissance,  persisted  through  the  whole 
of  the  sixteenth  century  and  into  the  seventeenth,  has  been 
recognized  by  numerous  writers  from  Thomas  Warton  down. 
Little  attempt  has  been  made,  however,  to  study  the  question 
systematically  or  in  detail,  though  the  value  of  such  a  study 
for  the  right  interpretation  of  the  movement  of  the  Renaissance 
in  England  must  be  apparent  to  all.  A  number  of  years  ago  I 
undertook  an  investigation  of  the  whole  subject  for  my  doc- 
torate dissertation.  Some  of  the  results  of  this  investigation 
appeared  in  the  Publications  of  the  Modern  Language  Association 
for  1 91 5,  in  the  form  of  a  detailed  monograph  on  the  vogue  of 
the  romance  of  Guy  of  Warwick  after  the  introduction  of 
printing.  The  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  whole  matter 
which  I  promised  at  that  time  I  have  been  unable  as  yet,  owing 
to  the  inacessibility  during  the  War  of  many  sources,  to  bring 
to  completion.  What  I  offer  here  is  therefore  only  a  summary, 
and  on  many  points — as  for  example  the  relations  of  the 
romances  to  Elizabethan  literature — a  very  inadequate  one.  I 
believe,  however,  that  the  critical  bibliography  of  editions  will 
be  of  service  to  other  workers  in  the  general  field,  and  that 
some  matters  treated  in  the  accompanying  essay  may  not 
seem  altogether  hackneyed.  I  hope  before  long  to  publish 
other  monographs  similar  to  that  on  Guy  of  Warwick^  notably 
one,  now  in  preparation,  on  the  reputation  and  influence  in 
England  of  Amadis  de  Gaule. 

A  word  should  be  said  as  to  the  limits  of  treatment  adopted 
in  the  following  pages.  For  various  reasons  I  have  restricted 
myself  to  romances  of  a  predominantly  chivalric  type;  I  have, 
for  example,  omitted  such  works  as  the  Gesta  Romanorum  and 

A  *>  o  «>  rj  :\ 


The  Seven  Wise  Masters^  which,  though  associated  with  the 
chivalric  stories  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  later,  yet  differed 
from  them  considerably  in  character.  I  have  included  the 
Spanish  romances  of  the  Amadis  and  Palmerin  type,  though 
they  were  scarcely  medieval  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word, 
partly  because  of  their  real  affinity  and  indebtedness  to  the 
earlier  romances,  and  partly  because  of  the  tendency  of  readers 
and  critics  in  England  in  the  years  following  their  introduction 
to  bracket  them  with  the  older  works.  As  for  the  period  cov- 
ered by  the  investigation,  I  have  deemed  it  wise  to  begin  with 
the  introduction  of  printing,  though  the  Renaissance  had 
scarcely  begun  as  yet,  and  to  end  with  the  Civil  War.  The 
subsequent,  or  chapbook,  period  of  the  romances  I  hope  to 
treat  in  a  later  publication. 


THE  VOGUE  OF  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 
DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE 

If  an  interest  in  chivalric  romance  in  general  persisted 
through  the  long  period  from  the  introduction  of  printing  to 
the  Civil  War,  the  actual  body  of  romances  which  fed  this 
interest  was  by  no  means  the  same  at  the  end  of  the  period 
as  at  the  beginning.  The  difference  was  due  in  part  to  the 
dropping-out  of  individual  romances,  but  chiefly  to  a  group  of 
changes  which  took  place  toward  1575.  Up  to  that  time  the 
list  of  romances  accessible  to  readers  in  current  editions  had 
altered  but  little  from  the  days  of  the  first  English  printers; 
it  was  made  up  in  nearly  equal  parts  of  verse  romances  inherited 
from  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  and  of  prose 
romances  translated  more  recently  from  the  French.  After 
about  1575  the  metrical  romances,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
disappeared;  some  of  the  older  prose  romances  followed  them 
into  oblivion;  and  those  that  survived  were  eclipsed  in  the 
favor  of  the  public  by  a  new  stock  of  chivalric  narratives, 
imported,  mainly  through  the  French,  from  Spain.  This 
second  phase  of  the  chivalric  vogue  lasted  until  the  eve  of  the 
Civil  War. 

I. 

FROM  THE  INTRODUCTION   OF   PRINTING  TO  THE   DISAPPEAR- 
ANCE OF  THE  METRICAL  ROMANCES 

In  order  to  understand  the  history  of  the  medieval  romances 
during  the  first  hundred  years  after  the  advent  of  printing, 
it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  their  reputation  in  England  during 
the  period  immediately  preceding  that  event. 

Their  position  as  the  favorite  type  of  fiction  with  all  classes 
of  readers  was  still  secure.  Perhaps  no  other  class  of  secular 
literature  so  abounded  in  the  libraries  of  the  time.    A  charac- 


1  .  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

teristic  collection  was  that  of  Robert  Thornton  (compiled 
ca.  1440),  which  contained  versions  of  Morte  Arthure^  Octavian^ 
Sir  IsumbraSy  Sir  Degrevant^  Sir  Eglamour,  The  Awntyrs  of 
Arthur^  Sir  Perceval^  and  others  of  less  note.  These  were  all 
verse  romances.  In  addition  to  these,  not  a  few  of  the  elaborate 
prose  romances  which  had  largely  superseded  the  older  metrical 
versions  in  France,  were  known  in  England,  especially  in  the 
world  of  the  court  and  the  higher  nobility.  About  the  middle 
of  the  century,  for  example,  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  presented 
to  Margaret,  Henry  VI's  queen,  copies  of  Ponthus  et  Sidoine, 
Les  ^uatre  Fib  Aimon^  and  Percejorest}  A  few  translations 
dating  from  the  same  period  also  bore  witness  to  the  favor 
accorded  to  the  type  by  English  readers:  among  these  were 
Merlin^  Ponthus  and  Sidone^  and  the  Arthurian  compilation  of 
Sir  Thomas  Malory  (finished  in  1469). 

In  the  light  of  these  facts  it  is  apparent  that  when  the  early 
printers — Caxton,  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  Pynson,  etc. — printed 
romances,  they  did  little  more  than  recognize  and  perpetuate 
a  taste  that  was  still  vital  among  their  customers.  Their 
publications  reflected  the  two  sides  of  this  taste:  from  their 
presses  came  in  approximately  equal  numbers  slightly  modern- 
ized texts  of  the  older  metrical  tales,  and  translations  of  the 
more  recent  and  fashionable  French  prose  romances. 

The  efi^orts  of  Caxton  were  confined  to  furthering  the  move- 
ment, already  well  under  way,  of  importation  and  translation. 
He  published  between  about  1475  and  149 1,  seven  romances, 
all  in  prose,  all  French  in  immediate  origin,  all  but  one  trans- 
lated by  himself.  The  first  of  the  series — Raoul  le  Fevre's 
Recuyell  of  the  Historyes  of  Troye — was  also  the  first  work 
issued  by  Caxton  on  his  own  account  and  the  first  printed  book 
in  the  English  language;  it  was  translated  and  printed  while  he 
was  still  abroad,  probably  at  Bruges,  but  it  was  intended, 
according  to  Caxton's  prologue,  for  readers  in  England  as  well 

^  Ward,  Catalogue  of  Romances,  I,  469-470,  622-624,  377-381. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  3 

as  in  Flanders.  The  other  six  romances  appeared  after  Caxton 
settled  at  Westminster.  They  were:  The  History  of  Jason 
{ca.  1477),  another  translation  from  Raoul  le  Fevre;  Le  Morte 
Barthur  by  Malory  (1485) ;  The  Life  of  Charles  the  Great  (1485), 
a  translation  oiFierabras;  Paris  and  Vienne  (1485)  and  Blanch- 
ardine  and  Eglantine  (1489-1491),  two  comparatively  recent 
French  romans  d'aventure;  and  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon 
(1489-1491),  like  Charles  the  Great  a  representative  of  the 
Charlemagne  cycle.^  All  of  these  romances  Caxton  printed  m 
expensive  folio  editions.  For  all  but  one  of  them  he  wrote 
prologues  or  epilogues  setting  forth  the  circumstances  of  trans- 
lation or  of  printing. 

Why  did  Caxton  confine  himself  to  the  diffusion  of  French 
prose  romances  to  the  total  neglect  of  the  native  metrical 
versions?     The  reason  was  perhaps  twofold.     For  one  thmg, 
Caxton's  own  taste  for  romances,  which  was  a  genuine  passion 
with  him,  would  seem  to  have  been  formed,  mainly  if  not  entire- 
ly, on  the  French  texts  that  were  current  in  Flanders.    At  any 
rate,    in    the    numerous    enthusiastic    outbursts    concerning 
romances  which  he  scattered  through  his  prefaces  and  epilogues 
it  was  almost  invariably  French  romances  which  he  had  in 
mind.     Thus  the  Recueil  of  Raoul  le  Fevre  pleased  him  not 
merely  for  the  "novelty"  of  its  "many  strange  and  marvellous 
histories,"  but  also  "for  the  fair  language  of  French,  which  was 
in  prose  so  well  and  compendously  set  and  written."    And  one 
of  the  considerations  which  induced  him  to  print  Malory's 
Morte  Darthur  was  the  fact  that  while  abroad  he  had  read 
"many  noble  volumes"   concerning  Arthur  in  French.     But 
personal  taste  was  not  the  only  factor  at  work.     Caxton  was 
extremely   sensitive   to   the   wishes  of  his   clientele,   and  his 
clientele,   which   was   almost  exclusively    an    aristocratic   one 
(witness  his  statements  to  this  effect  in   the  prologues  of  Le 

2  For   details   concerning  all  of  the  editions  of  romances  mentioned  in 
the  text  see  below,  Bibliography,  I. 


4  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

Morte  Darthur  and  Blanchardine)^  demanded  precisely  the  sort 
of  romances  in  which  he  himself  was  most  interested.  On 
two  occasions,  indeed,  the  demand  took  on  an  explicit  form: 
once,  shortly  after  his  establishment  in  England,  when  he  was 
approached  by  "many  noble  and  divers  gentlemen,"  who  were 
interested  in  the  "history  of  the  saint  greal  and  of  .  .  .  King 
Arthur,"  and  desired  to  have  it  printed  in  English;  and  again, 
at  a  slightly  later  time,  when  there  came  other  nobles,  including 
a  member  of  the  King's  household,  expressing  a  similar  interest 
in  the  romances  relating  to  Charlemagne. 

At  Caxton's  death  in  1491  his  business  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  who  was  active  in  Westminster  and 
London  until  1535.  Along  with  press  and  types  De  Worde 
took  over  his  master's  interest  in  romances;  throughout  his 
long  career  he  was  the  chief  purveyor  of  this  type  of  literature 
in  England.  Of  the  seven  romances  printed  by  Caxton,  he 
reissued  four:  Le  Morte  Darthur  (1498  and  1529),  The  Recuyell 
(1502),  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  (1504),  and  Paris  and  Vienne 
(undated).  In  all  of  these  editions  except  that  of  Paris  and 
Vienne  he  retained  Caxton's  elaborate  format — a  clear  indica- 
tion that  he  had  in  view  the  same  general  class  of  readers; 
aside,  too,  from  certain  changes  in  spelling  and  detail  of  phrase- 
ology, he  reproduced  Caxton's  texts.  As  he  was  primarily  a 
commercial  publisher,  his  selection  of  romances  for  reprinting 
unquestionably  reflected  the  relative  success  of  Caxton's 
enterprises.  It  is  significant  that  his  judgment  was  confirmed 
by  the  continuous  popularity  of  these  four  romances  for  more 
than  a  century. 

Much  more  important  than  these  reissues  of  Caxton's 
publications  were  the  additions  which  De  Worde  himself  made 
to  the  body  of  printed  chivalric  fiction.  Seven  of  these  addi- 
tions derived  from  the  source  which  Caxton  had  exclusively 
exploited — French  prose  romance.  They  were  The  History 
oj  King  Ponthus  (151 1),  Helyas  Knight  of  the  Swan  (15 12), 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  5 

Oliver  of  Castile  (15 18),  William  of  Palerne  {ca.  1520),  Huon  of 
Bordeaux  {ca.  1534),  Robert  the  Devil  (two  impressions,  undated) 
and  Valentine  and  Orson  (undated).  Who  were  the  translators 
of  these  romances?  Three  names  have  survived — Robert 
Copland,  who  translated  Helyas  on  a  commission  from  De 
Worde;  Henry  Watson,  "an  apprentice  of  London,"  who 
translated  Oliver  of  Castile  and  Valentine  and  Orson;  and 
Sir  John  Bourchier,  Lord  Berners,  who  wrote  the  charming 
version  of  Huon  of  Bordeaux.  Probably  the  others  were  hack 
translators  like  Copland  and  Watson  rather  than  noblemen  of 
letters  like  Berners. 

The  rest  of  De  Worde's  romance  publications  consisted  of 
texts  (slightly  modernized)  of  metrical  tales  popular  in  the 
later  fifteenth  century,  a  type  which  Caxton  had  entirely 
neglected.  Among  them  were  Bevis  of  Hampton,  Sir  Degore, 
Sir  Eglamour,  Guy  of  Warwick,  Ipomydon,  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion  (1509,  1528),  Robert  the  Devil  (a  metrical  version 
based  apparently  upon  the  English  prose),  The  Squire  of  Low 
Degree,  and  perhaps  Generides,  Sir  Isumbras,  Sir  Triamour, 
and  Torrent  of  Portugal.  Most  of  these  editions  were  undated; 
some  of  them  can  be  ascribed  to  De  Worde  only  on  rather 
uncertain  typographical  evidence.  It  is  obvious  that  he  took 
less  pains  with  them,  and  intended  them  for  a  less  exacting 
public,  than  his  editions  of  the  French  prose  tales.  Yet,  as  he 
continued  to  issue  them  throughout  his  career,  and  as  many  of 
them  continued  to  be  reprinted  for  still  another  generation, 
they  must  have  been  a  thoroughly  successful  venture. 

Among  De  Worde's  contemporaries  and  rivals  a  number 
printed  romances,  though  none  of  them  approached  him  in 
volume  or  variety  of  production.  In  1492  Gerard  Leeu,  an 
Antwerp  printer  who  worked  for  the  English  trade,  brought  out 
reimpressions  of  Caxton's  Jason  and  Paris  and  Vienne. 
Between  1495  and  1530  Richard  Pynson,  De  Worde's  chief 
competitor   in    the   London    trade,    printed   editions   of 


6  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

metrical  romances,  Guy  of  Warwick  and  Bevis  of  Hampton, 
and  of  one  of  Caxton's  prose  translations,  Paris  and  Vienne. 
Two  undated  issues  of  the  metrical  feast  of  Sir  Gawayne,  one 
by  John  Butler,  the  other  by  Thomas  Petit,  and  an  edition  by 
Robert  Redborne  of  Lord  Berners'  translation  of  the  prose 
Arthur  of  Little  Britain,  may  have  appeared  during  De  Worde's 
lifetime,  but  probably  were  somewhat  later. 

With  his  death  the  period  of  first  editions  for  both  the 
metrical  romances  and  the  translations  of  French  prose  roman- 
ces came  to  an  end.  The  next  notable  publisher  of  romances, 
William  Copland  (active  between  about  1548  and  1569), 
added  no  new  texts,  but  contented  himself  with  a  selection  of 
those  issued  by  De  Worde,  part  of  whose  business  he  seems  to 
have  inherited.  Thus  of  the  metrical  romances  he  printed 
Sir  Degore,  Sir  Eglamour,  Sir  Isumbras,  The  Squire  of  Low 
Degree,  Bevis  of  Hampton,  Guy  of  Warwick,  Sir  Triamour,  and 
The  Knight  of  Courtesy  (no  earlier  edition  of  this  romance  has 
survived,  but  in  all  liklihood  it  too  had  been  issued  by  De 
Worde) ;  and  of  the  prose  romances.  The  recuile  of  the  histories 
of  Troie  (1553),  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  (1554),  King  Arthur 
(1557),  Valentine  and  Orson  (two  undated  editions),  Helyas, 
The  Knight  of  the  Swan.  A  simple  reproducer  of  the  texts  of 
his  predecessors,  Copland  played  a  far  less  important  role  in 
the  history  of  medieval  romance  than  that  of  Caxton  or  Wyn- 
kyn  de  Worde.  Yet  he  did  good  service  in  keeping  alive  so 
many  of  the  older  favorites  for  the  public  of  the  second  half  of 
the  century. 

In  this  work  of  reviving  the  publications  of  the  preceding 
generation  he  was  assisted  by  a  number  of  his  contemporaries: 
by  an  unknown  who  issued  Ponthus  in  1548;  by  John  King, 
who  printed  Sir  Degore  and  The  Squire  of  Low  Degree  about 
1560,  and  in  1 557-1 558  took  out  licenses  for  The  feast  of 
Sir  Gawayne  and  Sir  Lamwell;  by  Thomas  Marsh,  John 
Tysdale,  and  John  Aide,  each  of  whom  secured  licenses  for 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  7 

Bevis  of  Hampton  between  1558  and  1569;  by  John  Purfoot, 
who  secured  licenses  in  1 568-1 569  for  Richard  and  Generides\ 
by  an  unknown  publisher,  who  printed  Huon  of  Bordeaux  in 
1570;  by  John  Cawood,  who  issued  Guy  of  Warwick  sometime 
before  1572;  and  by  John  Walley,  who  printed  Sir  Eglamour 
at  an  unknown  date  during  the  same  general  period. 

Such,  in  brief,  were  the  dealings  of  the  English  printers 
with  medieval  romances  to  about  1575.  That  date  marked 
the  end  of  a  period,  for  afterwards,  though  a  number  of  the 
prose  romances  already  translated  continued  to  be  reproduced, 
printers  for  one  reason  or  another  ceased  to  concern  themselves 
any  longer  with  the  metrical  romances.  (There  was  one  excep- 
tion— Bevis  of  Hampton^  Except  for  certain  scattered  readers 
who  continued  to  thumb  the  copies  already  in  existence,  the 
day  of  the  metrical  romances,  at  least  in  their  original  form, 
was  over. 

In  the  meantime  the  public  was  not  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  publications  of  English  printers  for  its  knowledge  of  medie- 
val chivalric  legends.  During  the  early  part  of  the  period 
especially,  a  certain  number  of  fifteenth  century  manuscript 
texts  of  romances  continued  to  circulate.  Nor  had  these 
altogether  ceased  to  function  as  a  medium  for  the  diffusion  of 
romances  even  after  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century: 
witness  the  manuscript  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  owned  in  1562  by 
a  certain  James  Haword,  and  the  Morte  Arthur  (the  metrical 
version)  owned  in  1570  by  one  Robert  Farrers.^  Then  too, 
just  as  in  the  years  before  the  introduction  of  printing,  a  good 
many  of  the  French  prose  romances  penetrated  into  England 
in  the  original  editions.  In  148 1  five  French  romances,  of  which 
at  least  four  were  printed  about  the  same  time  in  Lyons  and 
Paris,  were  in  the  library  of  Sir  Thomas  Howard,  afterwards 
Duke  of  Norfolk.     A  copy  of  the  prose  Merlin  printed  at 

'  Ward,  Catalogue  of  Romances,  I,  949;  J.  D.  Bruce,  Le  Morte  Arthur, 
E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  LXXXVIII,  p.  vii. 


8  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

Paris  in  1498  by  Antoine  Verard  found  its  way,  sometime 
before  1535,  into  the  royal  library  at  Richmond  Castle.  In 
1526  an  inventory  of  the  library  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare  listed 
French  copies  of  Lancelot  du  Lake  in  three  volumes  and  of 
Ogier  le  Danois;  these  romances  had  been  in  print  in  France 
since  before  the  beginning  of  the  century.  In  1540  Thomas 
Crull,  a  London  grocer,  owned  among  other  works  "two 
ffrenche  bokes  of  the  life  of  King  Arthur."*  Again,  general 
familiarity  with  certain  medieval  legends,  notably  those  of 
Arthur  and  of  Guy  of  Warwick,  was  promoted  by  the  sum- 
maries given  in  early  sixteenth  century  chronicles.  Accounts 
of  Arthur,  based  ultimately  upon  Geoffrey,  could  be  read  in 
the  histories  of  Fabyan  (15 16),  of  Rastell  (1529),  and  of 
several  minor  historiographers.  The  legend  of  Guy's  combat 
with  Colbrond,  in  a  prose  version  taken  directly  from  Lydgate's 
poem,  was  recounted  as  sober  history  by  Fabyan  and  Grafton 
(1569).  Finally,  it  would  seem  that  local  tradition  counted 
for  something  in  the  fame  enjoyed  by  at  least  three  of 
the  medieval  heroes.  There  were  "relics"  of  Arthur  still 
preserved  at  Winchester;  Southampton  cherished  the  memory 
of  Sir  Bevis;  at  Warwick,  Guy's  sword  was  preserved  in  the 
castle  in  the  charge  of  a  custodian  appointed  by  royal  patent, 
a  chapel  and  statue  marked  his  hermitage  at  Guyscliff,  and  a 
legend,  not  yet  given  literary  form,  of  his  combat  with  a 
Dun  Cow,  was  familiar  to  the  populace.^ 

Manuscripts,  French  editions,  chronicles,  local  tradition — 
all  of  these  helped  to  keep  alive  a  knowledge  of  the  old  romantic 
legends  among  the  Englishmen  of  the  early  sixteenth  century. 
They  were,  however,  merely  subsidiary  influences:  the  chief 
sources  of  information  were  the  editions  of  romances  issued  by 
the  London  printers. 

*  J.  P.  Collier,  Household  Books  oj  John  Duke  of  Norfolk,  l-ji;  Etudes 
romanes  dediees  a  Gaston  Paris,  9;  Hist.  MSS  Com.,  App.  Ninth  Report,  288- 
289;  Transactions  of  the  Bibliographical  Society,  VII,  120. 

*  Crane,  P.M.L.A.,  XXX,  1915,  135-136,  152. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  9 

It  is  extremely  difficult,  owing  to  the  lack  of  documents,  to 
form  a  precise  idea  of  the  diffusion  of  these  editions  during 
this  period,  but  it  would  seem  that  the  romance-reading  public 
of  the  first  hundred  years  after  the  introduction  of  printing 
fell  into  two  more  or  less  distinct  groups — a  relatively  small 
aristocratic  group  which  admired  especially  the  translations  of 
French  prose  romances,  and  a  larger  group,  undefinable 
socially  but  including  many  readers  of  humbler  means  and  less 
fashionable  tastes,  and  particularly  many  dwellers  in  the 
country,  who  still  found  pleasure  in  the  metrical  romances  of 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  Assuredly  few  outside 
the  wealthier  classes  could  afford  to  buy  the  sumptuous  and 
expensive  folios  in  which  romances  like  Le  Morie  Darthur^ 
The  Recuyell,  The  Four  Sons  of  Ay  man  appeared  throughout 
the  period.  The  public  of  these  romances  was  unquestionably 
in  the  main  an  aristocratic  one.  The  patrons,  for  example,  for 
whom  Caxton  prepared  his  editions  were  without  exception 
gentlemen  or  nobles.  Le  Morte  Darthur  he  addressed  to  "alle 
noble  prynces,  lords  and  ladyes,  gentylmen  or  gentylwymmen, 
that  desire  to  rede  or  here  redde  of  the  noble  and  loyous 
historye  of  the  grete  conquerour  and  excellent  kyng,  Kyng 
Arthur."  Charles  the  Great  he  turned  into  English  at  the  special 
urging  of  Sir  William  Daubeny,  the  treasurer  of  the  jewels  in 
the  King's  household.  The  other  translations  had  a  similar 
origin  or  were  addressed  in  similar  terms  to  readers  of  gentle 
birth.  And  as  with  Caxton,  so,  in  one  instance  at  least,  with 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  whose  edition  of  Helyas^  the  Knight  of  the 
Swan  (15 1 2)  owed  its  being  to  the  interest  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  in  the  exploits  of  one  of  his  reputed  ancestors 
On  the  other  hand,  the  small  rudely  printed  quartos  in  which 
appeared  such  romances  as  Sir  Bevis,  Sir  Gwy,  Sir  Degore,  Sir 
Eg/amour,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion^  were  undoubtedly  meant  to 
sell  cheaply  and  to  circulate  widely  among  a  somewhat  humbler 
public.  Many  of  them  were  probably  sold  to  country  readers; 
peddled  about  by  travelling  booksellers,  they  were   the   true 


lo  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

precursors  of  the  chapbooks  of  the  seventeenth  century.  One 
of  these  itinerant  booksellers,  a  certain  John  Russhe,  bought 
from  Richard  Pynson  for  sale  in  the  country  twenty  bound 
copies  of  Bevis  of  Hampton  at  lod  apiece;  they  were  among 
the  cheapest  books  in  the  lot,  which  included  "bocas  off  the 
falle  of  prynces"  at  2s,  the  "canterbery  Talys"  at  5s,  and 
"Isoppys  fabullys"  at  3s.  4d.  This  was  sometime  before 
1498.  A  score  of  years  later,  in  1520,  John  Dome,  bookseller  at 
Oxford,  sold  Bevis,  together  with  another  small  tract,  for  6d, 
Undo  your  Door,  Sir  Eg/amour,  and  Robert  the  Devil  for  3d, 
and  Sir  Isumbras  for  2d.  His  sales  also  included  two  prose 
romances — King  Pothus  (quarto)  for  8d,  and  The  Four  Sons  0/ 
Aymon  (folio)  for  is,  Bd.'' 

Outside  both  of  these  groups  of  simple  readers  were  the 
scholars  and  men  of  letters.  What  was  their  attitude  to  the 
romances?  A  few  of  them  took  the  old  stories  seriously  and 
were  influenced  by  them,  if  only  slightly,  in  their  work.  The 
translations  of  Caxton  and  Berners  reflected  a  genuine  personal 
enthusiasm  on  the  part  of  their  authors.  Stephen  Hawes  was 
familiar  with  the  Recuyell  and  with  Malory;  his  Pastime  of 
Pleasure  bore  many  traces  of  the  attraction  which  the  stories 
of  chivalry  had  for  him.  They  had  a  certain  attraction,  too, 
for  John  Skelton,  though  their  influence  on  his  poetry  went  no 
deeper  than  occasional  allusions  (as  in  Phillip  Sparrow)  to 
such  romantic  heroes  as  Guy  of  Warwick,  Gawain,  Lancelot, 
Tristram.  On  the  writers  of  drama,  especially  at  court,  the 
influence  of  the  romances  was  somewhat  more  marked.  Robert 
the  Devil  and  Amys  and  Amyloun  furnished  material  for  dis- 
guisings  during  Henry  VIITs  reign.  A  pageant  on  The  Round 
Table  was  presented  before  Henry  and  the  Emperor  in  1225 
by  the  citizens  of  London.     In  1547  a  pageant  on  the  theme 

*  The  Library,  N.S.,  X,  126-128;  'The  Day-book  of  John  Dome"  in 
Ox.  Hist.  Soc.  Collectanea,  First  Series 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  1 1 

of  Valentine  and  Orson  helped  to  celebrate  the  coronation  of 
Edward  VI. 7 

What  sympathy  there  was  for  the  romances  among  men  of 
letters  was  largely  offset  by  the  strong  current  of  criticism 
which  made  its  appearance  during  this  period.     The  impulse 
to  hostile  criticism  of  the  medieval  romances  was  given  by  the 
humanists,  particularly  by  Erasmus  and  the  Spaniard  Juan 
Luis  Vives.    Erasmus  had  for  the  stories  of  Arthur  and  Lancelot 
the  scorn  of  the  classical-minded  pedagogue;  his  chief  com- 
plaint was  that  these  stories — "fabulae   stultae  et  aniles" — 
drew  away  the  young  student's  interest  from  classical  history 
and  poetry. 8    With  Vives  moral  considerations  were  uppermost. 
In  two  notable  passages,  both  of  which  were  known  in  England, 
he  warned  his  readers,  in  each  case  young  women,  against  the 
evils  of  romance-reading.    Under  no  conditions,  he  maintained 
in  Be  Institutione  feminae  christianae  (1523),  should  women 
be  allowed  to  soil  their  minds  with  such  pestiferous  books  as 
"in  Hispania  Amadisus,  Splandianus,  Florisandus,  Tirantus, 
Tristranus;     quarum     ineptiarum     nuUus     est     finis   ...   in 
Gallia  Lancilotus  a  lacu,  Paris  et  Vienna,  Ponthus  &  Sydonia, 
Petrus  Provincialis  &  Maguelona,  Melusina,  domina  inexora- 
bilis:  in  hac  Belgica  [he  was  writing  at  Bruges]  Florius  &  Albus 
flos,  Leonella,  &  Cana  morus,  Curias  &  Floretta,  Pyramus  & 
Thisbe   ..."  {Opera,  Basle,  1555,  II,  p.  658).     In  this  list 
of  romances  to  be  tabooed,  although  he  wrote  with  a  view  to 
English  as  well  as  continental  readers,  he  neglected  to  give  any 
specific  English  examples.     x'\bout  1540  a  translation  of  the 
Be  Institutione,  the  work  of  a  certain  Richard  Hyrde,  appeared 
at  London,  and  was  reprinted  in  1541,  1557,  and  1592.    Into  the 
passage  condemning  the  reading  of  romances,  Hyrde  intro- 
duced the  names  of  several  romances  especially  popular  in 
England:  "In  Englande,  Parthenope,  Genarides,  Hippomadon, 

^  See  Baskervill,  Modern  Philology,  XIV,  1916,  477,  495. 

8  See  Ellison,  The  Early  Romantic  Drama  at  the  English  Court,  49~5°- 


12  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

William  and  Melyour,  Libius  and  Arthur,  Guye,  Bevis,  and 
many  other  ..."  {The  Instruction  of  a  Christen  Woman ^ 
sig.  E  iiij — F).  Vives'  other  warning  against  romances  occurred 
in  his  De  Officio  Mariti,  in  a  section  entitled  "De  Disciplina 
Feminae."  As  translated  sometime  after  1546  by  Thomas 
Paynell,  this  passage  ran  as  follows:  "There  be  some  kind  of 
letters  &  writynges  that  pertayne  only  to  adourne  &  increase 
eloquence  withall.  Some  to  delite  and  please.  Some  that  make 
a  man  subtile  and  craftye.  Some  to  knowe  naturall  thynges, 
and  to  instruct  and  informe  the  mynde  of  man  withall.  The 
workes  of  Poetes,  the  Fables  of  Milesii,  as  that  of  the  golden 
asse,  and  in  a  maner  all  Lucianes  workes,  and  manye  other 
whiche  are  written  in  the  vulgar  tonge,  as  of  Trystram,  Launce- 
lot,  Ogier,  Amasus  and  of  Arthur  the  whiche  were  written 
and  made  by  suche  as  were  ydle  &  knew  nothinge.  These  bokes 
do  hurte  both  man  (^  woman,  for  they  make  them  wylye  & 
craftye,  they  kyndle  and  styr  up  covetousnes,  inflame  angre,  & 
all  beastly  and  filthy  desyre." 

The  conception  of  the  romances  thus  sketched  by  Erasmus 
and  Vives  passed  after  the  Reformation  into  the  writings  of 
Protestant  moralists  and  writers  on  education.  The  antipathy 
of  these  men  to  the  old  stories  was  if  anything  more  pronounced 
than  that  of  the  earlier  humanists,  for  to  them  the  romances 
were  not  merely  extravagant  and  harmful  fairy  tales,  but  the 
works  of  Papists.  Tyndale  gave  passing  expression  to  this 
new  attitude  in  a  passage  in  The  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man 
(1528).  The  clergy,  he  said,  in  forbidding  lay  people  to  read 
the  scriptures  cannot  have  the  souls  of  those  people  at  heart, 
for  at  the  same  time  they  permit  them  to  read  Robin  Hood 
and  Bevis  of  Hampton,  "with  a  thousand  histories  and  fables  of 
love  and  wantonness,  and  of  ribaldry,  as  filthy  as  heart  can 
think,  to  corrupt  the  minds  of  youth  withal,  clean  contrary  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  of  his  apostles."  Roger  Ascham  set 
forth  the  same  view  in  Toxophilus  (1545):  "Englysh  writers  by 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  13 

diversitle  of  tyme,  have  taken  diverse  matters  in  hande.  In  our 
fathers  tyme  nothing  was  red,  but  bookes  of  fayned  chevalrie, 
wherein  a  man  by  redinge,  shuld  be  led  to  none  other  ende,  but 
onely  to  manslaughter  andbaudrye.  Yf  any  man  suppose  they 
were  good  ynough  to  passe  the  time  with  al,  he  is  deceyved. 
For  surelye  vayne  woordes  doo  worke  no  smal  thinge  in 
vayne,  ignoraunt,  and  younge  mindes,  specially  yf  they  be 
gyven  any  thynge  therunto  of  theyr  owne  nature.  These 
bokes  (as  I  have  heard  say)  were  made  the  moste  parte  in 
Abbayes,  and  Monasteries,  a  very  lickely  and  fit  fruite  of  suche 
an  ydle  and  blynde  kinde  of  lyvyng."  He  returned  to  the 
attack  in  The  Scholemaster  (1570),  in  a  famous  passage  on 
Malory's  Morte  Darthur^  beginning,  "In  our  forefathers  tyme, 
whan  Papistrie,  as  a  standyng  poole,  covered  and  overflowed 
all  England  ..."  Two  years  after  the  publication  of  this 
jeremiad,  Edward  Bering,  a  clergyman  of  Puritanical  leanings, 
wrote  in  a  similar  strain  in  the  preface  to  his  Bryefe  and  Neces- 
sary Catechisme  or  instruction.  Lamenting  the  taste  of  his 
contemporaries  for  books  "full  of  synne  and  abominations," 
he  likened  it  to  the  "wickednes"  of  their  forefathers;  who 
"had  their  spiritual  enchauntmentes,  in  which  they  were 
bewytched,  Bevis  of  Hampton,  Guy  of  Warwike,  Arthur  of 
the  round  table,  Huon  of  Burdeaux,  Oliver  of  the  Castle,  the 
foure  sonnes  of  Amond,  and  a  great  many  other  of  such  childish 
follye."  "These  were  in  the  former  daies  the  subtile  sleightes 
of  Satan  to  occupye  Christian  wyts  in  Heathen  fansies." 

II. 

FROM  THE   DISAPPEARANCE   OF  THE   METRICAL   ROMANCES  TO 
THE   FIRST   PROSE  CHAPBOOK  VERSIONS 

Beginning  with  the  seventies  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
relative  position  of  the  medieval  chivalric  romances  in  the 
total  body  of  literature  accessible  to  the  general  public  under- 
went  an   important   change.     Hitherto   they   had  comprised 


14  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

virtually  the  only  fiction  accessible  to  readers  at  large.  Hence- 
forth they  were  brought  into  sharp  competition,  first  with  a 
growing  mass  of  continental  and  especially  Italian  tales,  and 
second  with  a  national  literature  that  itself  included  among 
its  rapidly  multiplying  types  not  a  few  varieties  of  prose 
fiction.  A  progressive  relegation  of  the  medieval  romances 
to  the  background  of  the  public's  consciousness  was  bound  to 
result. 

And  yet  the  decline  was  exceedingly  slow.  In  spite  of  the 
practical  disappearance  of  the  metrical  versions  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  period  and  of  losses  among  the  prose  romances,  the 
vogue  of  chivalric  romance  in  general  more  than  held  its  own 
through  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  the  early 
years  of  the  seventeenth. 

Even  the  metrical  romances  did  not  pass  entirely  out  of 
circulation.  One  of  them,  Bevis  of  Hampton^  remained  in 
print  until  toward  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  seems  to  have  been  widely  read  meantime.  Of  the  others. 
Sir  Eglamour  was  licensed,  and  no  doubt  printed,  as  late  as 
1582,  and  made  the  subject  of  a  play  and  a  ballad  even  later; 
Sir  Isenbras,  according  to  a  passage  in  The  Cobler  of  Canter- 
burie  (1590),  was  a  favorite  with  "old  wives"  at  the  end  of  the 
century;  and  Guy  of  Warwick^  though  apparently  not  reprinted 
after  the  seventies,  remained  in  circulation  until  nearly  1640, 
and  was  the  source  of  several  new  versions  during  the  interval. 
The  survivors,  to  be  sure,  were  few,  and  of  them  probably 
only  Guy  and  Bevis  enjoyed  a  very  wide  difi^usion  (they  were  the 
only  two  metrical  romances  mentioned  for  censure  by  Meres 
in  1598).  But  it  is  noteworthy,  in  view  of  the  old-fashoined 
verse  and  the  obsolescent  language  of  this  group  of  romances, 
that  even  a  few  of  them  continued  to  interest  the  readers  of 
Elizabethan  England. 

The  losses  among  the  prose  romances  were  less  serious. 
Malory's  Morte  Darthur  was  reprinted  twice  by  East  about 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  15 

1585  and  at  least  once  by  Stansby  in  1^4;  in  addition,  the 
historical  tradition  of  Arthur  was  continued  by  Holinshed  and 
Stow.     The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  was  licensed  to  East  in  1582 
and  to  Purfoot  and  Wolf  in  1599.    Blanchardine  and  Eglantine^ 
after  more  than  a  century  of  oblivion,  was  revived  in  1595  in  a 
new  version  by  Thomas  Pope  Goodwin.     The  Recuyell  of  the 
Histories  of  Troy  was  revised  in  1596  by  Thomas  Fiston,  and 
went  through  several  reimpressions  between  that  date  and  the 
Civil  War.    Paris  and  Vienna  was  licensed  to  Purfoot  in  1586 
as  "an  old  booke";  it  did  not  reappear  again  until  the  second 
quarter  of  the  next  century,  when  several  editions  were  printed 
of  a  new  translation  by  Matthew  Mainwaring.     The  second 
edition  of  Huon  of  Bordeaux  appeared  in  1570;  the  third,  with 
the  "crude  English  corrected  and  amended,"  was  issued  by 
Purfoot  in  1601.     Valentine  and  Orson  was  licensed  to  Purfoot 
in   1586;  an    abridgment  was    printed    by   Purfoot's    son    in 
1637;  doubtless  other  editions  intervened.    Three  other  of  the 
prose  translations  of  the  early  years  of  the  century — Ponthus, 
Oliver  of  Castile^  and  Arthur  of  Little  Britain — were  licensed  to 
various  printers  in  the  eighties  and  at  least  one  of  them — 
Arthur  of  Little  Britain — was  printed  about  the  same  time. 
And  in  1596  or  shortly  thereafter  a  French  romance  not  hitherto 
known    in    England    was    brought    into    the    language — The 
History  of  Mervine,  Son  to  Ogier  the  Dane.    In  short,  for  a  large 
number  of  the  prose  "books  of  chivalry"  of  the  French  type 
the  late  sixteenth   and  early  seventeenth   centuries   brough 
something  like  a  revival,  manifested  in  new  versions  and  in 
more  or  less  painstaking  revision  of  the  old. 

Meanwhile,  whatever  losses  occurred  among  the  older 
types  of  chivalric  fiction  were  more  than  compensated  for  by 
the  introduction  of  a  body  of  romances  similar  to  them  in  many 
features  and  constantly  associated  with  them  by  friend  and  foe 
alike,  but  of  a  difl^erent  provenience — the  early  sixteenth- 
century    Spanish    romances    of   chivalry.      Long    before    the 


i6  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

seventies  the  fame  of  Amadis  of  Gaul,  of  Palmerln  d'Oliva  and 
his  numerous  descendants,  of  Palladine  of  England,  of  Bellianis, 
and  of  the  Knight  of  the  Sun,  had  spread  from  the  Peninsula 
into  Italy  and  France;  they  had  just  passed  the  climax  of  their 
reputation  in  these  countries  when  the  initiative  of  certain 
booksellers  brought  them  into  England.  Some  of  them,  it  is 
true,  were  already  familiar  to  a  few  Englishmen.  Amadis  in 
particular  had  readers  in  England  many  years  before  it  was 
translated.  Anything  like  a  real  vogue,  however,  came  only 
with  the  stream  of  translations  which  began  in  the  late  seven- 
ties. These  translations  were  the  work  of  a  number  of  more  or 
less  obscure  men  working  at  the  behest  of  a  group  of  commercial 
publishers.  The  leader  among  them  was  Anthony  Munday, 
who  either  single-handed  or  with  the  aid  of  assistants  turned 
out  versions  of  six  romances;  much  less  notable  were  the  con- 
tributions of  Margaret  Tiler,  of  R.P.,  of  L.A.,  and  of  Lazarus 
Pyott  (frequently  but,  as  it  would  seem,  erroneously  identified 
with  Munday).  For  the  most  part  these  translators  worked 
from  easily  accessible  French  versions;  only  in  one  instance 
{The  Mirror  of  Knighthood)  was  recourse  had  to  the  original 
Spanish;  in  one  other  instance  {Bellianis)  the  source  was 
Italian.  They  by  no  means  exhausted  the  texts  available — of 
the  twenty-four  books  of  the  French  Amadis  only  the  first 
four  were  translated  before  1640 — but  they  considerably 
increased  the  stock  of  chivalric  stories  accessible  in  English. 

The  movement  of  translation  began,  after  a  few  preliminar- 
ies, which  included  the  non-narrative  Treasurie  of  Amadis 
(1567-68),  with  the  first  part  of  Book  I  of  The  Mirrour  of 
Knighthood,  published  by  East  in  1578;  it  reached  its  climax 
in  the  nineties,  and  terminated  soon  after  1600.  During  this 
interval  there  were  published  nine  parts  of  The  Mirror,  com- 
prising the  first  three  books,  the  product  of  three  different 
translators  and  of  two  publishers;  two  parts  of  Gerileon  of 
England   (translator   unknown);   three  parts   of  Palmerin   of 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  17 

England  (the  first  two  parts,  published  by  Charlwood  between 
1 58 1  and  1585,  were  the  first  to  appear  of  Munday's  transla- 
tions) ;  two  parts  of  Palmerin  d'Oliva  (by  Munday) ;  Palladine 
of  England  (by  Munday) ;  Palmendos  (by  Munday) ;  two  parts 
of  Primaleon  of  Greece  (by  Munday);  the  first  four  books  of 
Amadis  de  Gaule  (the  second  by  Lazarus  Pyott,  the  rest  by 
Munday);  and  The  Honour  of  Chivalry  or  Bellianis  (by  L.A.). 
After  1 601,  though  some  of  these  romances  continued  to  be 
reprinted,  there  were  no  additions  to  the  list,  incomplete  as  it 
was,  until  the  middle  of  the  century. 

In  thus  reviving  old  romances  and  furthering  the  translation 
of  new,  publishers  like  East,  the  Purfoots,  Stansby,  Charlwood, 
Burby,  Creede — all  men  of  essentially  commercial  interests — 
were  obviously  working  in  response  to  a  strong  and  constant 
demand.  From  what  classes  of  Englishmen  did  this  demand 
come?  Who  were  the  admirers  of  the  medieval  chivalric 
romances  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  and 
the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  ? 

To  a  few  of  letters,  including  some  whose  general  culture  was 
least  medieval,  the  romances  made  a  strong  appeal  on  the  score, 
chiefly,  of  their  substance.  Such  a  one  was  Sidney,  who  at  one 
time,  according  to  Jonson's  statement  to  Drummond,  planned 
to  transform  the  Arcadia  into  a  collection  of  Arthurian  legends, 
and  who  was  capable  of  admitting,  in  The  Apology  for  Poetry^ 
that  even  Amadis  de  Gaule^  imperfect  poem  as  it  was,  had 
moved  men's  hearts  "to  the  exercise  of  courtesie,  liberalites, 
and  especially  courage."  Such  a  one,  at  least  in  his  youth, 
was  William  Drummond  of  Hawthornden,  who  between  1606 
and  1609  devoured  seven  out  of  the  twenty-four  volumes  of 
Amadis  in  French,  and  dipped  into  the  English  translation  of 
The  Mirror  of  Knighthood."^  Such  a  one  was  Spenser,  who  in 
numerous  passages  of  The  Faerie  ^ueene  betrayed  his  familiar- 
ity with  and  his  respect  for  medieval  romances,  both  prose 

*  See  ArchcEologica  Scotica,  IV,  i  (1831),  pp.  73-74. 


1 8  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

and  verse,  both  English  and  French.  Such  also  were  two  dis- 
ciples of  Spenser — Drayton,  who  wove  the  stories  of  Arthur 
and  Bevis  and  Guy  into  his  Poly-olbion,  and  Milton,  whose 
early  interest  in  the  Arthurian  legends  dominated  for  a  time 
the  conception  of  his  future  great  work.  Even  Ben  Jonson, 
hostile  to  the  romances  though  he  was  on  the  whole,  could  yet 
assure  Drummond  in  1619  that  "for  a  Heroik  poeme  .  .  . 
ther  was  no  such  ground  as  King  Arthur's  fiction."  And  there 
were  many  others — poets,  dramatists,  pamphleteers— who, 
though  they  expressed  no  clear  judgment  on  the  romances, 
yet  showed  through  their  imitations  and  passing  allusions 
that  they  did  not  think  them  beneath  their  notice. 

On  the  whole,  however,  the  attitude  of  the  literary  class 
was  not  especially  friendly.  It  became  more  and  more  the 
custom  to  denounce  the  romances  for  their  immorality,  their 
lack  of  verisirriilitude,  their  crudeness  of  form,  and  to  sneer  at 
them  because  of  their  popularity  with  uncultured  readers. 
Much  of  the  outright  criticism,  as  had  been  the  case  in  the 
preceding  period,  was  ethical.  In  1577  Meredith  Hanmer 
lamented,  in  the  Dedication  to  his  Aunctent  Ecclesiastical 
Histories  of  the  First  Six  Hundred  Years  after  Christ ,  that 
instead  of  reading  works  of  divinity  "manie  now  a  daies  had 
rather  read"  the  stories  of  King  Arthur,  Bevis  of  Hampton, 
and  "many  other  infortunate  treatises  and  amorous  toyes." 
In  1579  E.K.,  glossing  the  term  "ladyes  of  the  lake"  in  the 
Shepheardes  Calender  (iv,  120)  referred,  in  the  spirit  of 
Ascham,  to  "certain  fine  fablers  or  lewd  lyers,  such  as  were  the 
Authors  of  King  Arthure  the  great,  and  such  like,  who  tell 
many  an  unlawfuU  leasing  of  the  Ladyes  of  the  Lake,  that  is, 
the  Nymphes."  In  1582,  in  his  Playes  confuted  in  five  Actions, 
Gosson,  after  noting  that  the  London  playwrights  were  accus- 
tomed to  draw  on  "Amadis  of  Fraunce"  and  the  "Rounde 
table"  for  plots,  raised  the  question:  "How  is  it  possible  that 
our  Playemakers  headdes,  running  through  Genus  and  Species 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  19 

&  every  difference  of  lyes,  cosenages,  baudries,  whooredomes, 
should  present  us  any  schoolemistres  of  life,  looking  glasse  of 
manners,  or  Image  of  trueth?"  In  1587  E.  A.'s  translation  of 
The  Politicke  and  Militarie  Discourses  of  Francois  de  la  Noue 
introduced  English  readers  to  a  view  of  Amadis  which  resem- 
bled strongly  the  view  of  the  Morte  Darthur  set  forth  scarcely 
two  decades  before  by  Ascham.  The  sixth  discourse  bore  the 
title:  "That  the  reading  of  the  bookes  of  Amadis  de  Gaule, 
&  such  like  is  no  lesse  hurtful  to  youth,  than  the  works  of 
Machiavel  to  age."  The  "fruites  of  these  books"  the  author 
developed  at  length  under  five  heads:  "the  poison  of  Impietie," 
"the  Poison  of  pleasure,"  "the  poyson  of  revendge,"  "forget- 
fulnesse  of  trew  duetie,"  and  "partinent  fables"  (ed.  1587,  pp. 
87-95).  I^  ^594  came  a  bit  of  invective  evidently  inspired 
directly  by  The  Scholemaster.  "It  were  too  long,"  wrote 
Thomas  Bowes  in  the  introductory  epistle  to  his  translation 
of  the  French  Academic  of  La  Primaudaye,  "to  set  downe  the 
Catalogue  of  those  lewde  and  lascivious  bookes  which  have 
mustered  themselves  of  late  yeeres  in  Paules  Churchyard,  as 
chosen  souldiers  ready  to  fight  under  the  divels  banner,  of 
which  it  may  bee  truely  said,  that  they  prevaile  no  lesse  (if 
not  more)  to  the  upholding  of  Atheisme  in  this  light  of  the 
Gospel,  then  the  Legend  of  Lies,  Huon  of  Burdeaux,  King 
Arthur,  with  the  rest  of  that  rabble,  were  of  force  to  maintaine 
Popery  in  the  dayes  of  ignorance."  In  1598,  in  Palladis 
Tamia,  Francis  Meres  attempted  to  complete  the  work  of 
Francois  de  la  Noue  on  Amadis  by  drawing  up  an  extended  list 
of  similar  books  likewise  "hurtfull  to  youth."  In  the  list  he 
included  Bevis  of  Hampton,  Guy  of  Warwick,  Arthur  of  the  Round 
Table,  Huon  of  Burdeaux,  Oliver  of  Castile,  The  Four  Sons  of 
Aymon,  Gerileon,  The  Honour  of  Chivalry,  Primaleon  of  Greece, 
Palmerin  d'Oliva,  The  Mirror  of  Knighthood,  Blanchardine, 
Mervine,  Palladine,  and  Palmendos — in  short,  nearly  all  of  the 
chivalric  romances  most  in  demand  at  the  end  of  the  century. 


0.O  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

Similar  convictions  as  to  the  harmfulness  of  reading  romances 
were  expressed  by  Henry  Crosse  in  a  pamphlet  called  Vertues 
Common-wealth  (1603),  by  Burton  in  1621  in  two  passages  of 
The  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (Part  2,  Sec.  2,  Memb.  4,  and  Part  3, 
Sec.  2,  Memb.  2,  Subs.  4),  by  William  Vaughn  in  The  Golden 
Fleece  (1626),  and  by  many  others. 

Meantime  the  romances  had  been  attacked  from  a  more 
purely  literary  point  of  view.  Their  remoteness  from  reality, 
their  improbability,  their  extravagant  idealism  were  bound  to 
oflFend  tastes  formed  on  the  literature  of  antiquity.  One  of 
the  first  to  apply  the  new  standards  of  classicism  and  rational- 
ism to  the  medieval  tales  was  Thomas  Nashe,  who  in  The  Ana- 
tomie  of  Ahsurditie  (1589)  denounced  "the  fantasticall  dreames 
of  those  exiled  Abbie-lubbers,  from  whose  idle  pens  proceeded 
those  worne  out  impressions  of  the  feyned  no  where  acts,  of 
Arthur  of  the  rounde  table,  Arthur  of  little  Brittaine,  sir 
Tristram,  Hewon  of  Burdeaux,  the  Squire  of  low  degree,  the 
foure  sons  of  Amon,  with  infinite  others."  Sir  William  Corn- 
wallis,  in  a  passage  in  his  Essay es  (1600)  made  explicit  the 
comparison  with  antiquity:  "If  in  Arthur  of  Brittaine,  Huon 
of  Burdeaux  and  such  supposed  chivalrie,  a  man  may  better 
himselfe,  shall  he  not  become  excellent  with  conversing  with 
Tacitus,  Plutarch,  Sallust,  and  fellowes  of  that  ranke?"  (Essay 
15).  Twelve  years  after  this  came  the  first  English  translation 
of  T)on  Quixote  (Part  I) — the  finest  expression  in  the  whole 
period  of  the  new  attitude  toward  the  romances,  and  an 
unmistakable  influence  in  shaping  later  opinion  in  England. 
More  in  the  manner  of  Nashe  than  of  Cervantes  was  an  allusion 
to  Guy,  Bevis,  Valentine  and  Orson,  and  King  Arthur  in  Robert 
Ashley's  autobiography  (1614) :  they  contained  "fictas  et  futiles 
fabellas,"  the  work  of  idle  monks  in  past  centuries.^"  But  in 
An  Execration  upon  Vulcan  (wr.  161 9-1 629,  published  in 
Underwoods,   1640)   Ben  Jonson  wrote   as  one   familiar  with 

"  Reprinted  by  Crane  in  Modern  Philology,  XI,  1913,  271. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  21 

Bon  Quixote.    He  had  lost  his  Hbrary  by  fire,  and  was  unable 
to  understand  the  reason  for  the  disaster. 

"Had  I  compiled  from  Amadis  de  Gaul, 
The  Esplandians,  Arthurs,  Palmerins,  and  all 
The  learned  library  of  Don  Quixote, 
And  so  some  goodlier  monster  had  begot. 


Thou  then  hadst  had  some  colour  for  thy  flames, 
On  such  my  serious  follies  ..." 

Had  he  known,  he  went  on,  of  the  desire  of  Vulcan  to  hold  a 
triumph,  he  would  gladly  have  supplied  him  with  "many  a 
ream,  to  redeem"  his  own: 

"The  Talmud  and  the  Alcoran  had  come, 
With  pieces  of  the  Legend;  the  whole  sum 
Of  errant  knighthood,  with  the  dames  and  dwarfs; 
The  charmed  boats,  and  the  inchanted  wharfs. 
The  Tristrams,  Lancelots,  Turpins,  and  the  Peers, 
All  the  mad  Rolands,  and  sweet  Olivers; 
To  Merlin's  marvels,  and  his  Cabal's  loss. 
With  the  chimera  of  the  Rosie-cross, 
Their  seals,  their  characters,  hermetic  rings, 
Their  jem  of  riches,  and  bright  stone  that  brings 
Invisibility,  and  strength,  and  tongues." 

Not  merely  the  improbabilities  of  the  old  romances  but 
their  crudities  of  form  as  well  excited  the  riducule  of  men  who 
derived  their  literary  ideals  from  Greece  and  Rome.  Thus 
Nashe,  following  perhaps  a  hint  given  in  Melbancke's  Philoti- 
mus  (1583),  made  cruel  sport  in  The  Anatomie  of  Absurditie 
of  the  rimes  in  Sir  Bevis.  "Who  that  reading  Bevis  of  Hamp- 
ton," he  wrote,  "can  forbeare  laughing,  if  he  marke  what 
scambling  shyft  he  makes  to  ende  his  verses  a  like?  I  will 
propound  three  or  foure  payre  by  the  way  for  the  Readers 
recreation."  The  first  and  the  last  of  Nashe's  examples  were 
as  follows: 


22  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 


"The  Porter  said,  by  my  snout, 
It  was  Sir  Bevis  tliat  I  let  out" 


and 


"Some  lost  a  nose,  some  a  lip, 

And  the  King  of  Scots  hath  a  ship." 

"But,"  he  concluded,  "I  let  these  passe  as  worne  out  absurdi- 
ties. 

Finally,  the  old  romances  incurred  the  riducule  of  men  of 
letters  because  of  their  popularity  with  uncultured  or  plebeian 
readers.  Not  only  in  Beaumont's  Knight  of  the  Burning 
Pestle  (1610-1611),  which  was  without  question  the  master- 
piece of  this  type  of  criticism,^^  but  in  countless  dramas  and 
pamphlets  of  the  early  seventeenth  century,  it  was  constantly 
insinuated  that  a  taste  for  chivalric  romance  was  especially 
characteristic  of  tradesmen,  country  squires,  apprentices, 
servants,  old  women,  the  old-fashioned  and  the  half-educated 
of  all  classes.^2  So  well  established,  indeed,  in  the  dramaof  the 
time  was  the  association  between  admiration  of  the  medieval 
romances  and  lack  of  culture  or  social  position  that  Jonson  in 
The  New  Inn  (1629),  wishing  to  characterize  favorably  the 
studies  of  Lord  Beaufort,  made  Lovel,  his  former  page,  expressly 
deny  that  he  was  a  reader  of  romances.  "I  waited  on  his  stu- 
dies," said  Lovel;  "which  were  right. 

He  had  no  Arthurs,  nor  no  Rosicleers 

No  knights  o'  the  Sun,  nor  Amadis  de  Gauls, 

Primaleons,  Pantagruels,  public  nothings; 

Abortives  of  the  fabulous  dark  cloyster. 

Sent  out  to  poison  courts  and  infest  manners." 

Instead  his  Lordship  was  a  student  of  Homer's  "immortal 
phant'sy"  and  of  Virgil,  "that  master  of  the  epic  poem":  "these 
he  brought  to  practice,  and  to  use"  (Act  I,  Sc.  i), 

"  See  the  edition  by  H.  S.  Murch,  Yale  Studies  in  English,  XXXIII, 
1908. 

^2  For  the  principal  allusions  of  this  sort  in  the  drama  see  Koeppel, 
Ben  Jonson  s  WirkungauJ zeitgen'ossische  Dramatiker,  1906,  195-222. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  23 

Such  was  the  attitude  of  men  of  letters  toward  the  old 
romances — friendly  in  a  few,  hostile  in  the  majority.  Who, 
then,  bought  and  read  all  of  the  editions  that  issued  from  the 
presses  of  the  late  sixteenth  and  early  seventeenth  centuries? 
Probably  in  the  main  the  sort  of  people  who  were  represented 
as  admirers  of  romances  by  the  dramatists  and  pamphleteers. 
These  English  Don  Quixotes  were  by  no  means  all  to  be  found 
among  the  lower  or  middle  classes.  To  say  nothing  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  and  Sidney  at  the  beginning  of  the  period,  as 
late  as  1636  Edward  Lord  Conway  commissioned  Sir  Kenelm 
Digby  to  procure  romances  for  him  at  Paris,  and  Sir  Kenelm 
replied  that  he  was  able  to  send  him  "La  conqueste  du  sang 
real,"  the  "legend  of  Sir  Tristram,"  and  "a  curious  Amadis  in 
1 2  vols."^^  There  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  public  of 
the  romances  in  this  period  was  on  the  whole  less  distinguished 
intellectually  or  socially  than  it  had  been  during  the  generation 
following  the  introduction  of  printing.  Then  the  expensive 
format  of  many  of  the  romances  kept  them  from  penetrat- 
ing very  far  down  among  the  people;  only  the  short  and  cheaply 
printed  metrical  tales  could  have  had  a  really  popular  sale. 
Now,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  all  of  the  current  editions  of 
romances  were  in  quarto,  and  their  diffusion  must  in  conse- 
quence have  been  far  wider.  Many  copies  of  the  new  editions 
seem  to  have  gone  into  the  country,  where  perhaps  were  to  be 
found  the  least  critical  readers  of  the  old  stories.  The  library 
of  Captain  Cox,  the  Coventry  mason  described  by  Robert 
Laneham  in  1575,  contained  in  all  nine  romances  of  the  chival- 
ric  type,  most  of  them  apparently  in  the  editions  of  Copland 
or  his  contemporaries.^^  A  little  later  than  this  Thomas 
Marshe,  a  London  bookseller,  sold  to  Edward  Wingfield, 
Esquire,  of  Kimbalton  Castle,  Huntingdonshire,  two  parts  of 

"  Cal.  of  State  Papers,  1 636-1 637,  pp.  378-379. 

"  See  Furnivall's  edition  of  Laneham's  Letter  in  Captain  Cox's  Ballads 
and  Books,  Ballad  Society,  1871. 


24  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

The  Mirror  of  Knighthood  and  two  parts  of  Palmerin  of  Eng- 
land^ and  to  Richard  Brett,  a  bookseller  in  York,  twelve  copies 
of  The  Destruction  of  Troy}^  The  vogue  of  stories  of  chivalry 
among  countrymen  was  alluded  to  in  an  anonymous  pamphlet, 
The  English  Courtier  and  Country -gentleman  (1579):  on  winter 
nights  in  the  country,  said  one  of  the  speakers  in  the  dialogue, 
"we  use  certaine  Christmas  games  very  propper,  &  of  much 
agilitie;  wee  want  not  also  pleasant  mad  headed  knaves,  that 
bee  properly  learned,  and  will  reade  in  diverse  pleasant  bookes 
and  good  Authors:  As  Sir  Guy  of  Warwicke,  the  foure  Sonnes 
of  Amon,  .  .  .  and  many  other  excellent  writers  both  witty 
and  pleasaunt."  Children,  too,  probably  formed  no  inconsider- 
able part  of  the  public  of  the  romances  in  this  period. ^^ 

The  most  important  result  of  the  rejection  of  the  romances 
by  the  leaders  of  Elizabethan  letters  and  their  increasing  relega- 
tion to  a  somewhat  humble  public  was  to  limit  seriously  their 
influence  on  current  literature.  With  a  few  exceptions,  the 
works — and  they  were  fairly  numerous — which  drew  inspira- 
tion from  them  were  essentially  popular  in  character  and 
appeal. 

The  influence  was  greatest  perhaps  in  the  theater.  Among 
the  plays  produced  at  court  in  the  decade  1 570-1 580,  six  at 
least,  it  would  seem,  derived  from  medieval  chivalric  romances. 
They  were  Paris  and  Vienna^  performed  late  in  1571  or  early 
in  1572  (lost);  The  Irish  Knight^  performed  1576-1577  (lost; 
based  perhaps  upon  the  French  romance  of  Meliadus);  The 
Historie  of  the  Solitarie  Knight^  performed  at  Shrovetide,  1577 
(lost;  the  source  may  possibly  have  been  the  twelfth  book  of 
the  French  Amadis)\  The  Rape  of  the  Second  Helen,  1 578-1 579 
(lost;  probably  based  upon  the  tenth  book  of  the  French 
Amadis)\   The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Rock,   ^579   (lost;   the 

1^  r^^L/^rary,  Third  Series,  VII,  1916,326,328. 

^^  See  Robert  Ashley's  autobiography.  Modern  Philology^  XI,  271,  and 
Cornwallis,  Essayes,  1600,  No.  15. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  25 

source  seems  to  have  been  The  Mirror  of  Knighthood)  \  Sir 
Clyomon  and  Sir  Clamydes^  probably  first  performed  during  this 
decade  (the  source  was  Perceforest^  a  French  prose  romance 
apparently  not  translated).  Though  not  strictly  dramatic, 
Leicester's  entertainments  for  Elizabeth  at  Kenilworth  in 
1575  were  allied  to  these  court  plays  through  their  use  of 
material  from  Le  Morte  DarthurP  By  the  beginning  of  the 
eighties,  if  not  before,  plays  based  upon  the  romances  were 
also  in  vogue  on  the  popular  stage.  In  1582  Gosson  in  his 
Playes  confuted  mentioned  among  works  "ransackt  to  furnish 
the  Playe  houses  in  London,"  Amadis  de  Gaule  and  the  'Rounde 
table."  And  the  formulae  for  popular  plays  given  by  Gosson 
in  the  same  pamphlet  and  by  Sidney  in  The  Defense  of  Poetry 
about  the  same  date,  pointed  to  dramas  utilizing  respectively 
the  themes  of  Guy  of  Warwick  and  of  Sir  Eglamour.  To  this 
same  early  period,  perhaps,  belonged  a  play  on  the  Eglamour 
legend  which  was  presented  at  Dresden  in  1626  by  Green's 
troop  of  English  players. ^^  The  apogee  of  the  chivalric  vogue 
in  the  popular  theaters  came  in  the  nineties.  Between  1593 
and  1603  Philip  Henslowe  bought,  or  drew  revenue  from,  six 
pieces  treating  themes  of  medieval  romance — Huon  of  Bor- 
deaux (i  593-1 594);  Uther  Pendragon  (1597);  Valentine  and 
Orson  by  Munday  and  Hathway  (1598),  possibly  but  not 
certainly  a  rewriting  of  the  "enterlude  of  Valentyne  and 
Orsson"  entered  at  Sationers'  Hall  on  May  23,  1595  and  again 
on  March  31,  1600;  The  Life  and  Death  of  King  Arthur  (1598); 
Tristram  of  Lyons  (1599);  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  (1603).^^ 
This  last  play  was  still  being  performed  in  1624.  After  the 
end  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  however,  the  old  romances  apparently 

^^  See  Ellison,  The  Early  Romantic  Drama  at  the  English  Courts  pp. 
2,1-2^^  62-67,  72-79J  105-129. 

1*  Baskervill,  Mod.  Phil,  XIV,  191 7,  759-760. 

"Henslowe's  Dairy,  ed.  W.  W.  Greg,  I,  16,  52-53,  86-87,  9^->  ^i^.  ^73' 
176,  II,  227. 


26  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

lost  most  of  their  former  popularity  with  the  dramatists  as 
sources  for  plots.  An  exception  was  Guy  of  Warwick,  several 
plays  dealing  with  which  were  performed  between  1618  and 
1639.2" 

As  with  the  drama,  so  with  prose  fiction:  the  influence  of 
the  romances  was  largely  confined  to  the  period  before  1600, 
and  it  was  greatest  on  works  intended  for  a  popular  reading. 
The  only  prose  narrative,  indeed,  of  a  purely  aristocratic 
and  literary  character  that  owed  much  to  the  old  stories  was  the 
Arcadia,  which,  if  Jonson's  information  was  correct,  Sidney 
at  one  time  planned  to  transform  into  a  collection  of  Arthurian 
legends,  and  which  in  its  definitive  form  betrayed  in  several 
places  the  influence  of  Amadis}^  Greene's  Pandosto  (1588), 
which  was  indebted  to  The  Mirror  of  Knighthood,  was  a  work 
of  more  popular  appeal. -^  So  also  was  Thomas  Lodge's  Life 
of  Robert  the  second  Duke  of  Normandy,  surnamed  .  .  .  Robin 
the  Divell  (1591).  And  few  indeed  were  the  readers  outside  of 
middle  class  and  plebeian  circles  who  could  have  relished  such 
crude  adaptations  of  the  old  romance  conventions  as  Robert 
Johnson's  very  popular  Seven  Champions  of  Christendom 
(i  596-1 597)  and  his  Tom  of  Lincoln  (1599),  which  was  indebted 
to  Malory;  Christopher  Middleton's  The  Famous  Historic  of 
Chinon  of  England  .  .  .  fVith  the  worthy  Atchievement  of 
Sir  Lancelot  du  Lake,  and  Sir  Tristram  du  Lions  (1597);  Eman- 
uel Forde's  Parismus  (i  598-1 599),  Ornatus  and  Artesia  {ca. 
1598),  and  Montelyon  (before  1616);  and  the  anonymous 
Heroicall  Adventures  of  the  Knight  of  the  Sea.  Comprised  in  the 
Historic  of  .   .   .  Prince  Oceander  (1600). 

In  poetry  the  only  works  of  any  artistic  pretensions  that 
were  influenced  by  the  romances  were  The  Faerie  ^ueene, 
Poly-Olbion,  and  Chester's  Loves  Martyr.     Spenser's  greatest 

2"  Crane,  P.M.L.A.,  XXX,  161-165. 

21  Brunhuber,  Sir  Philip  Sidneys  Arcadia  und  ihre  Nachldufer,  1903. 

^^  de  Perott,  Englischt  Stiidien,  Bd.  39,  1908,  308-309. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  27 

debt,  both  in  the  general  conception  of  his  epic  and  in  the 
detail  of  its  episodes  and  imagery,  was  to  Malory;  but  he 
adapted    to    his    own     purpose    also    material     from    Bevis 
of  Hampton,  Huon  of  Bordeaux,  The  Squire  of  Low  Degree,  the 
Conte  du  Graal,  and  doubtless  others  as  well.^^    This  material 
he  treated  as  he  treated  material  from  Ariosto,  from  Tasso, 
from  the  ancients:  never  content  simply  to  retell  a  story  he  had 
read,  he  fused  together  elements  from  different  sources,  heigh- 
tened some   details   and  suppressed  others,   until   the   result 
was    an    essentially    new    creation.      Drayton's    method   was 
simpler.     Relying  chiefly  on  chronicle  accounts,  but  making 
some  use  also  of  the  romance  versions,  he  retold  at  the  appro- 
priate points  in  his  tour  through  Great  Britain,  the  legends  of 
Bevis  of  Hampton  (Song  II),  of  King  Arthur  (Songs  IV,  V, 
and  passim),  and  of  Guy  of  Warwick  (Songs  XII  and  XIII). 
Chester's  contribution,  which   formed  only  a  part  of  Loves 
Martyr,  recounted,  on   the   basis   of  Malory   and  of  various 
historians,  "the  Birth,  Life  and  Death  of  honourable  Arthur 
King   of  Brittaine."24     The   other   poems   of  the   period   on 
romance  themes  were  of  a  more  popular  character.    This  was 
especially  true  of  two  of  the  three  versions  of  Guy  of  Warwick 
that   were    written    between    about    1608    and    1636:  Samuel 
Rowlands's  The  Famous  History  of  Guy  Earle  of  Warwick  {ca. 
1608),  a  short  poem  in  twelve  cantos  founded  mainly  upon  the 
metrical  romance,  and  John  Carpenter's  The  famous  and  worthy 

23  On  Spenser's  knowledge  and  use  of  the  medieval  romances  see  Warton, 
Observations  on  the  Fairy  ^ueen  of  Spenser  (ed.  1807),  I,  pp.  27-75>  ^I'  PP- 
144-145,  205;  J.  B.  Fletcher,  "Huon  of  Burdeux  and  the  Fairie  Queene" 
(in  The  Journal  of  Germanic  Philology,  II,  1898,  pp.  203-212);  J.  R.  Mac- 
arthur,  "The  Influence  of  Huon  of  Burdeux  upon  the  Fairie  Queene"  {ibid., 
IV,  1902,  pp.  215-238);  Marie  Walther,  M^/oryj  Einfiuss  auf  Spensers  Faerie 
Queene  (1898);  Howard  Maynadier,  The  Arthur  of  the  English  Poets,  (1907), 
pp.  257-277;  Edgar  A.  Hall,  "Spenser  and  Two  Old  French  Grail  Romances" 
(in  P.M.L.A.,  XXVIII,  1913,  pp.  539-554)- 

21  See  Charlotte  D'Evelyn  in  Jour,  of  Eng.  and  Ger.  Phil.,  XIV,  75-88. 


28  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

History  of  Guy  Earle  of  Warwick  (lie.  1636;  no  copy  is  known). 
The  other  retelling  of  the  story  of  Guy,  John  Lane's  The  cor- 
rected historic  of  Sir  Guy  (finished  in  1617,  revised  in  1621), 
was  a  more  ambitious  work,  but  for  some  reason  it  remained 
unprinted.^^ 

Finally,  there  were  a  number  of  ballad  versions  of  romance 
subjects;  An  Adventurous  Knyght  of  King  Arthur  s  Courte 
(lie.  1 565-1 566);  Deloney's  The  Noble  Acts  of  Arthur  of  the 
round  Table  in  The  Garland  of  Good  Will  (1604;  the  source 
was  Malory);  A  plesante  songe  of  the  valiant  actes  of  Guy  of 
Warwicke  (lie.  1592);  Courage  Crowy^ed  with  Conquest;  or^  A 
brief  Relation  y  how  .  .  .  Sir  Eglamour  bravely  fought  with  .  .  . 
a  Dragon  (cited  in  Rowlands's  The  Melancholic  Knight ,  161 5); 
Valentine  and  Orson\  and  almost  certainly  others. 

Thus  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  and 
the  first  few  years  of  the  seventeenth  many  of  the  old  chivalric 
romances  were  reprinted,  new  ones  of  the  same  general  char- 
acter were  translated,  and  both  old  and  new  enjoyed  a  vogue 
which,  though  greatest  among  the  uncultured  and  the  old- 
fashioned,  yet  touched  all  classes  of  the  reading  public. 

The  decline  which  followed,  and  which  became  marked 
after  1625,  manifested  itself  in  two  ways.  First,  there  took 
place  a  gradual  reduction  in  the  number  of  romances  in  circu- 
lation. Between  1625  and  1640  only  the  following  seem  to  have 
been  reprinted,  though  others  certainly  continued  to  be  read: 
Paris  and  Vienna  (Mainwaring's  version),  Le  MorteDarthur^  The 
Destruction  of  Troy,  Pahnerin  d'Oliva,  Valentine  and  Orson, 
Bevis  of  Hampton,  and  Palmerin  of  England.  The  number  was 
still  further  reduced  during  the  second  half  of  the  century. 
Second,  the  surviving  stories  became  more  and  more  the  pecu- 
liar property  of  the  least  cultured  type  of  readers.  Appreciated 
as  late  as  the  third  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  by  English- 
men of  all  classes,  they  had  largely  ceased  by  the  middle  of  the 

^^On  these  versions  see  Crane,  P.M.L.A.,  XXX,  152-161. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  29 

seventeenth  to  appeal  to  any  except  servants,  ignorant  country 
folk,  and  children.  As  a  means  of  fitting  them  to  this  narrower 
public — the  public  of  the  cheaper  booksellers  and  the  travelling 
chapmen — a  number  of  the  longer  romances  were  abridged,  and 
those  still  in  verse  were  turned  into  prose.  The  process  began 
shortly  before  1640  with  Valentine  and  Orson.  It  continued 
through  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  with  Martin  Parker's 
prose  abridgment  of  Guy ^  and  culminated  after  the  Restoration 
with  five  new  chapbook  redactions  of  Guy,  two  prose  renderings 
of  Bevis,  at  least  four  new  abridgments  of  Valentine  and  Orson, 
and  abridgments  of  Amadis,  Bellianis,  King  Arthur,  and 
Pahnerin  of  England. 


30  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 
I. 

EDITIONS   OF   ROMANCES    PRINTED  IN    ENGLAND   OR    FOR    ENGLISH 
READERS   BETWEEN    I475  AND   1 64O 

In  this  list  I  have  given  for  each  edition  (/)  a  brief  title, 
{2)  an  indication  of  the  publisher  and  of  the  date  and  place  of 
publication  {if  no  place  is  mentioned  it  may  be  assumed  that  the 
edition  was  printed  at  London)^  (j)  a  statement  of  the  for 7n at, 
{f)  a  reference  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  most  easily  accessible 
copy,  or  if  no  copy  is  known^  to  some  source  attesting  the  existence 
of  the  edition,  (5)  a  reference  to  a  ?nodern  reprint,  wherever  one 
exists,  and  {6)  such  other  information  as  I  have  been  able  to 
collect  regarding  date,  source,  translator,  etc.  The  general  order 
of  the  list  is  chronological;  the  order  within  single  years  is,  except 
for  a  few  years  in  which  the  time  order  is  ascertainable,  alpha- 
betical. 

ca.  1475 

The  Recuyell  of  the  Hi  story  es  of  Troye  ...  by  Raoul  le 
Fevre  .  .  .  translated  ...  by  Willyam  Caxtoji.  W. 
Caxton  and  Colard  Mansion,  Bruges.  Fol.  B.  L. 

B.M.     Reprinted  by  H.  Oskar  Sommer,  2  vols.,  London,  1894. 

ca.  1477 

{The  History  of  Jason.  Translated  from  the  French  of 
Raoul  le  Fevre  by  Caxton.  Caxton,  Westminster,  1477."] 
Fol.  B.L. 

B.M.    Reprinted  John  Munro,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.  CXI,  1913. 

1485 

Le  Morte  Darthur  ...  by  Syr  Thomas  Malory.  Cax- 
ton, Westminster,  July  31,  1485.    Fol.  B.L. 

John  Rylands  Library,  Manchester.    Repr.  Sommer,  3  vols.,  London, 
1889. 

Charles  the  Crete.  Caxton,  [Westminster],  Dec.  i,  1485. 
Fol.  B.L. 

B.M.     Repr.  Sidney  Herrtage,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  XXXVI,  XXXVII, 

1880,  1 88 1.     A  translation  by  Caxton  of  the  French  prose  romance  ot 
Fierabras. 


.  DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  31 

Parys  and  .   .   .   Vyenne.     Caxton,  Westminster,  Dec. 

19,  1485.    Fol.  B.L. 

B.M.  Repr.  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  Roxburghe  Library,  1868.  Translated 
by  Caxton  from  an  unidentified  French  edition. 

I489-149I 

{The   Four   Sons    of  Aymon.      Caxton,    Westminster.] 
Fol.  B.L. 

John  Rylands  Library.  Repr.  Octavia  Richardson,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S., 
XLIV,  XLV,  1884,  1885.  Translated  from  the  French  by  Caxton  at  the 
request  of  John,  Earl  of  Oxford.  The  date  rests  on  typographical  evi- 
dence. 

[Blanchardyn  and  Eglantine.  Caxton,  Westminster.] 
Fol.  B.L. 

B.M.  Repr.  Leon  Kellner,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  LVIII,  1890.  Translated 
by  Caxton  from  an  unidentified  French  edition.  The  evidence  for  the 
date  is  typographical. 

1492 

The  veray  trew  history  of  the  valiant  Knight  lason.  Gerard 
Leeu,  Antwerp,  June  2,  1491.    Fol.  B.L. 

University  Liorary,  Cambridge.    A  reprint  of  Caxton's  translation. 

Thystorie  of  Parys  and  Vyenne.  Gerard  Leeu,  Antwerp, 
June  23,  1492.    Fol.  B.L. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin.    A  reprint  of  Caxton's  translation. 

After  1494 

[Sir  Eglamour.  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  Westminster?] 
4°.     B.L. 

University  Library,  Cambridge  (one  leaQ.  The  type  is  Wynkyn  de 
Worde's  No.  4,  which  made  its  appearance  about  1494.  See  DufF, 
Fifteenth  Century  English  Books,  igiy,  pp.  37,  127-129.  A  copy  of 
"Syr  eglamour"  was  sold  by  John  Dome,  an  Oxford  stationer,  in  1520. 
See  "The  Day-book  of  John  Dome,"  No.  152,  in  Ox.  Hist.  Soc.  Collec- 
tanea^  First  Series,  p.  82. 

\Guy  of  Warwick.  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  Westminster?] 
4°.     B.L. 

Bodleian  (fragm.).  The  type  is  No.  4.  See  Duff,  op.  cit.,  46,  129, 
and  Crane,  P.  M.  L.  A.,  XXX,  1915,  129  n. 

1^4-1  j'98 

[Bevis  of  Hampton.  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  Westminster.] 
4°.     B.L. 

Bodleian  (fragm.).  Type  No.  4  (Duff,  op.  cit.,  128).  For  the  facts 
upon  which  the  terminal  date  rests  see  The  Library,  N.S.,  X,  122,  127. 


32  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

1498 

[Le  Morte  Darthur.]  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  Westminster, 
March  25,  1498.     Fol.  B.L. 

John  Rylands  Library.  A  reprint  of  Caxton's  edition,  with  numerous 
verbal  changes.    Illustrated.    Cf.  Sommer,  Le  Morte  Darthur,  II,  5-6. 

Before  1501 

[Guy  of  Warwick.    Richard  Pynson.]    4°.    B.L. 
B.M.  (fragm.).     Pynson's  type  No.  2  (Duff,  op.  cit.,  132).     For  the 
date,  source,  etc.  see  Duff,  p.  46,  and  Crane,  P.M.L.J.,  XXX,  191 5, 1 29  n. 

1 502-1 503 

The  recuyles  .  .  .  of  the  hystoryes  of  Troye.  Wynkyn 
de  Worde,  1502.     Fol.  B.L. 

B.M.;  Pepys  collection.  The  British  Museum  copy  is  dated  1503.  A 
reprint  of  Caxton's  translation.    Illustrated. 

1504 

The  foure  Sonnes  of  Aimon.  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  1504. 
Fol.  B.L. 

Univ.  Lib.,  Camb.  (fragm.).  A  reprint  of  Caxton's  edition.  The 
date  is  established  by  the  colophon  of  William  Copland's  edition  of  1554. 

\The  History  of  King  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion^  Wynkyn 
de  Worde,  1509.     Fol.  B.L. 

Bodleian;  John  Rylands.     See  below  under  1528. 

1511 

The  noble  hystory  of  .   .   .   kynge  Ponthus.    Wynkyn  de 

Worde,  151 1.     4°.     B.L. 

Bodl.  See  on  the  sources,  etc.  of  this  version,  F.  J.  Mather,  P.M.L.A., 
XII,  1897,  xxi  ff.,  and  F.  Brie,  Archiv.  CXVIII,  1907,  325-328  and  CXXI, 
1908, 129-130. 

1512 

The  knyght  of  the  swanne.  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  151 2. 
4°.     B.L. 

The  only  known  copy  (printed  on  parchment)  in  the  Library  of 
Richard  Hoe,  N.Y.  (sold  in  191 1).  Repr.  for  the  Grolier  Club,  New 
York,  1901.  The  source  was  probably  the  Paris,  1504,  edition  of  Le 
Chevalier  au  Cygne. 

1518 

Olyver  of  Castylle.    Wynkyn  de  Worde,  151 8.     4°.     B.L. 
Britwell.    Repr.  R.  E.  Graves,  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  1898.    Trans- 
lated by  Henry  Watson,  "an  apprentice  of  London,"  from  the  French. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  ^^ 

The  first  French  edition  appeared  at  Geneva  in  1482,  The  original, 
which  purported  to  be  a  translation  from  the  Latin  but  which  was  prob- 
ably written  in  French  by  Philippe  Camus,  could  not  have  been  much 
older  than  this. 

Before  1520 

[Sir  Isumbras.] 

Two  copies  sold  by  John  Dome  at  Oxford  in  1520.  See  his  "Day- 
book," ed.  cit.,  Nos.  1 137, 1 188. 

Undo  youre  dor e.    Wynkyn  de  Worde?    4°.    B.L. 
Britwell,  (fragms.).    Repr.  W.  E.  Mead,  The  Squyr  of  Lowe  Degre. 
Albion  Series,  1904.    Two  copies  (of  this  edition?)  were  sold  by  Dome 
in  1520  (Nos.  621,  1 103). 

ca.  1520 

[Ky77g  Wyllyam  of  Palerne.    Wynkyn  de  Worde?]    B.L. 
Private  library  (fragm.).     Ed.  Friedrich  Brie  in  Archiv,  CXVIII, 
1907^  3'^3-3'^S-     On  the  date,  printer,  and  source,  see  The  Academy, 
March  11,  1893,  223,  and  Brie,  be.  cit.,  319-322. 

1528 

Kynge  Rycharde  cuer  du   lyon.     Wynkyn   de   Worde, 
1528.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  Illustrated  by  ten  woodcuts.  The  text  bears  a  close  resem- 
blance to  the  Caius  College  MS  of  the  romance;  see  Weber,  Metrical 
Romances,  18 10,  I,  xlviii. 

1529 

\Le  Morte  Darthur.]  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  1529.  Fol. 
B.L. 

B.M.  On  the  relation  of  this  edition  to  its  predecessors  see  Sommer, 
Le  Morte  Barthur,  II,  6-7,  43-145. 

1501-1530 

[Bevis  of  Hampton.]  Richard  Pynson.  4°.  B.L. 
Bodleian  (impf.).  Koelbing  prints  readings  from  it  in  the  notes  of 
his  edition  of  the  romance  in  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  XLVI,  1885.  The  date  of 
publication  can  be  fixed  only  within  the  limits  of  Pynson's  removal  to 
the  sign  of  the  George  in  1501  and  his  death  in  1530.  The  "beuis  of 
hampton"  sold  by  John  Dome  in  1520  may  have  belonged  to  this  edition 
("Day-book,"  No.  2033). 

[Paris  and  Vienne.    Richard  Pynson?]    4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     Attributed  to  Pynson  by  the  compilers  of  the  B.M.  Catalogue. 


34  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

1501-1535 

Syr  Degore.    Wynkyn  de  Worde.    4°.     B.L. 
Britwell.     I  group  under  these  dates  all  of  the  undated  romances 
printed  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde  between  his  removal  from  Westmintser 
to  Fleet  Street,  late  in  1500  or  early  in  1501,  and  his  death  in  1534  or  1535. 

[Generides.    Wynkyn  de  Worde?]    4°.     B.L. 
Trinity    College,    Camb.    (fragm.).       See   Hazlitt,    Handbook,    i1j^. 
Repr.  by  Furnivall  in  his  Roxburghe  Club  edition  oi  Generides,  1865. 

Ipomydon.     Wynkyn  de  Worde.     4°. 

B.M.  (fragm.).  Cf.  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  291,  and  E.  Koelbing,  Ipome- 
don,  1889,  xiv. 

Thystory  of  the  knyght  Parys  mid  of  the  fayr   Vyene. 
Wynkyn  de  Worde.    4°.    B.L. 
Bodl.  (fragm.). 

Robert  the  devyll.    Wynkyn  de  Worde.    4°.    B.L. 

B.M.;  Univ.  Lib.,  Camb.  These  two  copies  appear  to  represent 
different  impressions.  It  is  possible  that  to  one  of  them  belonged  the 
copy  of  "robert  the  deuill"  sold  by  John  Dome  in  1520  ("Day-book," 
No.  1325).  There  is  a  modern  reprint  in  Thoms,  Early  English  Prose 
Romances,  Vol.  I,  1858.  The  source  of  this  translation  was  some  con- 
temporary edition  of  the  French  prose  Robert  le  Diable. 

A  verse  romance  entitled  The  Lyje  of  Roberte  the  Deuyllvfus  printed  by 
Herbert  in  1798  from  an  Elizabethan  transcript  of  a  quarto  edition,  now 
lost  with  the  exception  of  a  fragment  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  (Hazlitt, 
Handbook,  510),  but  believed  to  have  been  printed  by  either  Wynkyn  de 
Worde  or  Pynson.  A  comparison  of  texts  shows  that  the  metrical  version 
was  in  all  probability  based  upon  the  prose  translation. 

[Torrent  of  Portugal.    Wynkyn  de  Worde  ?1    4°.    B.L. 
Bodl.  (fragm.).    See  Torrent  of  Portyngale,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  LI,  1887, 
pp.  v-vi,  93-100. 

[Sir  Try  amour.    Wynkyn  de  Worde?]    4°.    B.L. 
Univ.  Lib.  Camb.  (fragm.). 

ca.  1529 

Syr  Gawayne.    John  Butler.    4°.    B.L. 

Lambeth  (fragm.).  Ed.  Madden,  Syr  Gawayne,  Bannatyne  Club, 
1839.  Butler  is  known  to  have  printed  a  number  of  books,  but  the  only 
fixed  date  in  his  career  is  1529,  when  he  issued  his  only  known  dated  book, 
the  Parvulorum  institutio. 


i 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  35 

^533-^535 

The  boke  of  duke  Huon  of  burdeux.    [Wynkyn  de  Worde  ?] 

Fol. 

Private  library.  Repr.  Sidney  Lee,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  XL,  XLIII,  L, 
1882,  1884,  1887.  A  translation  from  the  French,  probably  from  a  Paris 
edition  of  15 13,  by  Sir  John  Bourchier,  Lord  Berners.  According  to 
the  prologue  of  "the  printer,"  Berners  was  encouraged  in  his  work  by 
Lord  Hastings,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  who  also  was  responsible  for  getting 
the  book  printed.  From  the  latter  circumstance,  and  indeed  from  the 
whole  tone  of  the  prologue,  it  would  seem  that  the  romance  was  printed 
after  Berners'  death,  which  took  place  in  1533.  The  printer  was  almost 
certainly  Wynkyn  de  Worde:  the  type  would  appear  to  have  been  his, 
and  in  1553  ten  copies  of  the  romance  formed  part  of  the  stock  of  books 
remaining  in  his  house  in  Fleet  Street  {The  Library,  Ser.  Ill,  Vol.  VI, 
1915,  232). 

Before  1535 

[The  Graylef    Wynkyn  de  Worde?] 

In  an  account  of  the  contents  of  the  printing  house  formerly  owned 
by  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  later  by  Edward  Whitchurch,  drawn  up  in  1553 
{The  Library,  Ser.  Ill,  Vol.  VI,  1915,  231)  occurs  the  following  item: 
"vnum  librum  voc.  a  Grayle  in  parchment."  Does  this  refer  to  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Histoire  du  Saint  Graal,  of  which  the  current  French  version 
appeared  about  1514? 

[Valentine  and  Orson.    Wynkyn  de  Worde?]    4°.     B.L. 

Library  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  (fragm.).  Translated  from  the 
French  by  Henry  Watson.  The  ascription  to  Wynkyn  de  Worde  is 
conjectural,  but  it  is  somewhat  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  Watson 
in  1 51 8  translated  Oliver  of  Castile  at  De  Worde's  request  (see  his  state- 
ment in  the  preface). 

A    History    of  .   .  .  Ponthus  .   .   .  and  .   .   .  Sidonia. 

1548.     4°. 

Hazlitt,  Handbook,  475. 

'^^^^ 

The  recuile  of  the  Histories  of  Troie.    William  Copland, 

1553.    Fol.    B.L. 

B.M.  A  reprint  of  Caxton's  translation.  ?)ttSomm&T,The  Recuyell^ 
I,  xcviii-ci. 

I536-1554 

Syr  Gawayne.    Thomas  Petyt.    4°.    B.L. 
B.M.  (fragm.).     Petyt  printed  between  about  1536  and  1554. 


36  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

1554 

The  foure   sonnes    of   Aimon.      William    Copland    for 
Thomas  Petet,  1554.     Fol.     B.L. 
B.M.     A  reprint  of  De  Worde's  edition. 

1 548-1 557 

Valentyne  and  Orson.    William  Copland  for  John  Walley. 
4°.     B.L. 

Private  library.  The  date  is  fixed  within  these  limits  by  a  statement 
in  the  colophon  that  it  was  printed  at  the  Rose  Garland.  See  Hazlitt, 
Handbook,  624,  and  cf.  DufF,  A  Century  oj the  English  Book  Trade,  32. 

1557 

The  Story  of  the  moste  noble  and  worthy  Ky?jge  Arthur. 
William  Copland,  1557.     Fol.  B.L. 

B.M.  A  reprint  of  Wynkyn  de  Worde's  edition  of  1529.  See  Som- 
mer,  Le  Morte  Darthur,  II,  7-8. 

1557-1558 

A  feast  of  syr  Gawayne.     Lie.  to  John  King  between 
July  19,  1557  and  July  9,  1558. 
Stationers'  Registers,  I,  79. 

Syr  LamwelL    Lie.  to  King  between  July  19,  1557  and 
July    9,    1558. 

Stat.  Reg.,  I,  79.  Two  fragments  of  this  romance,  both  printed  appar- 
ently in  the  sixteenth  century  but  belonging  to  distinct  impressions,  are 
preserved  in  the  Bodleian.  They  are  printed  in  The  Percy  Folio  Manu- 
script, I,  522-535.  One  of  them  may  belong  to  King's  edition.  For  an 
earlier  edition,  probably  by  John  Rastell  (active  1516-1533),  see  The 
Library,  Ser.  Ill,  Vol.  VI,  p.  233. 

1558-1559 

Bevys  of  Hampton.     Lie.  to  Thomas  Marshe  between 
July  10,  1558  and  July  10,  1559. 
Stat.  Reg.,  I,  95. 

1560 

Syr  Degore.    John  King,  1560.    4°.    B.L. 
Bodl.     Licensed  June  10,  1560  (Stat.  Reg.,  I,  128). 

The  Squyr  of  Low  degre.     Lie.  to  John  King,  June  10, 
1560. 

Stat.  Reg.,  I,  128. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  37 

1561 

Bevys  of  Hampton.    Lie.  to  John  Tysdale,  May  1 1,  1561. 
Sfat.  Reg.,  I,  156. 

1561-1562 

Bevis  of  Hampton.    William  Copland.    4°.    B.L. 
Hazlitt  {Handbook^  38)  lists  an  edition  by  Copland  printed  "in  the 
vinetre  upon  the  thre  Crane  wharf."     Copland  printed  at  this  address 
between  sometime  before  1561  and  1562  (Duff,  A  Century  of  the  English 
Book  Trade,  2'^~23)- 

Syr  Tryamour.    William  Copland.    4°.    B.L. 

B.M.  The  colophon  reads:  "Imprinted  at  London  in  Temes  strete 
vpon  the  thre  Crane  wharfe."  Repr.  Utterson,  Select  Pieces  of  Early 
Popular  Poetry,  18 17, 1,  5-72. 

Before  1566 

The  hy story  of  .   .   .  Arthur  of  lytell  brytayne.     Robert 
Redborne.     Fol.  B.L. 

John  Rylands  Library.  Translated  by  Lord  Berners  from  the  French 
Artus  de  Bretagne  (prose).  Repr.  Utterson,  London,  18 14.  The  transla- 
tion must  have  been  finished  before  1533,  when  Berners  died,  and  it  was 
probably  first  printed  not  long  after.  Redborne  is  mentioned  in  various 
connections  in  the  Stationers'  Registers  up  to  1566  (see  Duff,  A  Century 
of  the  English  Book  Trade,  131). 

1567-1568 

The  treasurie  of  Amadis  of  France.    H.  Bynnemann  for 
T.  Racket.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  Licensed  to  Hacket  between  July  22,  I567and  July  22,  1568 
{Stat.  Reg.,  I,  359).  A  translation  by  Thomas  Paynell  of  Le  Tresor  des 
Amadis:  contenant  les  Epitres,  Complaintes,  Condons,  Harangues,  Deffis, 
^  Cartels:  Recueillis  des  douze  Livres  d' Amadis  de  Gaule:  pour  servir 
d" example,  a  ceus  qui  desirent  apprendre  d  bien  ecrire  Missives,  ou  parler 
Francois,  a  compilation  of  which  numerous  editions  appeared  in  France 
after  1559. 

1548-1569 

Syr  Degore.     William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     Re-pr.  Utterson,  Select  Pieces,!,  iij-i^^.     Under  these  dates, 
which  represent  the  approximate  limits  of  Copland's  activity,  I  bring 
together  those  editions  which  lack  any  precise  indication  of  date  or 
address. 

Syr  Eglamour  of  Artoys.     William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 
Bodl.     See  Schleich,  Sir  Eglamour  (Palaestra  LIII),  92. 


38  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

Syr  Isenbras.     William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     Repr.  Utterson,  Select  Pieces,  I,  77-112. 

The  Knight  of  Curtesy  and  the  Fair  Lady  of  Faguell. 
William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 

Bodl.  Repr.  W.C.  Hazlitt,  Remains  of  the  Early  Popular  Poetry  of 
England,  II,  1866,  65-87. 

The  Knyght  of  the  Swanne.  William  Copland.  4°. 
B.L. 

B.M.  Repr.  Thorns,  Early  English  Prose  Romances,  III.  A  reprint 
of  Robert  Copland's  translation  as  printed  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde. 

The  Squyr  of  lowe  degre.     William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     Repr.  W.  E.  Mead,  Albion  Series,  1904.    The  same  text  as 
Wynkyn  de  Worde's  Undoyoure  dore. 

1 562-1 569 

Syr  Beuys  of  Hampton.    William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     This  and  the  two  following  romances  were  printed  "in  Loth- 
bury,"  Copland's  address  between  156a  and  his  death  in  1568  or  1569 
(Duff,  A  Century  of  the  English  Book  Trade,  22)- 

Guy  of  Warwick.     William  Copland.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     See  Crane,  P.M.L.A.,  XXX,  191 5, 129  n. 

Valentyne  and  Orson.     William  Copland.     4°. 
B.M.     See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  624. 

1568-1569 

Beves  of  Hampton.     Lie.   to  John  Aide  between  July 
22,  1568  and  July  22,  1569. 
Stat.  Reg.,  I,  389. 

Generydes.  Lie.  to  Thomas  Purfoot  between  July  22, 
1568  and  July  22,  1569. 

Stat.  Reg.,  1, 389.  See  Wright,  Generydes,  E.E.T.S.,  O.S.,  LXX,  1878 
vii.  Earlier  editions  of  Generides  must  have  existed,  for  it  is  mentioned 
in  Hyrde's  translation  of  Vives'  Instruction  of  a  Christen  Woman  {ca. 
1540)  among  romances  especially  popular  in  England.    See  P.M.L.A., 

XXX,  137-138. 

Kynge  Rychard  Cur  de  Lyon.    Lie.  to  Thomas  Purfoot 
between  July  22,  1568  and  July  22,  1569. 
Stat.  Reg.,  I,  389. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  39 

1570 

[Hnon  of  Bordeaux.] 
The  colophon  of  the  1601  edition  of  this  romance  sets  forth  that  it 
was  "translated  out  of  frenche  into  English  by  Syr  lohn  Bourchire, 
Knight,  Lord  Berniers,  at  the  request  of  the  Lord  Hastings  Earl  of  Hun- 
tinton,  in  the  years  of  our  Lorde  God,  one  thousand  fiue  hendrede  and 
three  score  and  Ten,  and  now  newlie  reuised  and  corrected  thys  present 
yeare,  1601."  As  the  date  of  either  the  translation  or  the  first  edition, 
1570  is  clearly  out  of  the  question  (see  above  under  1 533-1 535);  but  it 
may  well  have  been  a  confusion  on  the  part  of  the  publisher  of  the  1601 
edition,  Thomas  Purfoot,  for  the  date  of  a  second  edition.  That  there 
actually  was  such  an  edition  is  implied  in  the  statement  on  the  title  page  of 
Purfoot's  reprint,  that  the  work  was  "now  the  Third  time  imprinted.' 
See  Sidney  Lee,  E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  XL,  Ivi;  L,  782. 

Before  1572 

Guy  of  JVarwick.     John  Cawood. 
See  Crane,  P.M.L.A.,  XXX,  130  n. 

1577  . 

Gerileon  of  England.    Lie.  to  John  Jugge,  May  20,  1577. 
Stat.  Reg.,  I'l,  312. 

The  Mirrour  of  Princely  deedes  and  Knighthood.    Thomas 
East.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  A  translation  by  Margaret  Tiler  of  the  first  part  of  Book  I 
of  the  Spanish  romance,  Espejo  de  Principe s,  by  Diego  Ortunez  de  Cala- 
horra.  The  translation  was  licensed  to  East  on  August  4,  1578  {Stat. 
Reg.,  II,  334).  Two  other  undated  editions  by  East  of  this  part  of  the 
romance  are  listed  by  Esdaile,  p.  105. 

1581 

Palmerin  of  Englande.  Lie.  to  John  Charlwood, 
Feb.  13,  1581. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  388.  Concerning  the  date  of  publication  of  this 
romance,  which  was  translated  by  Anthony  Munday  from  a  French 
version,  there  are  several  bits  of  evidence  in  addition  to  the  entry  in  the 
Stationers'  Register.  In  the  first  place.  Parts  I  and  II  were  published 
separately  (see  "The  Epistle  Dedicatory"  in  the  1609  edition  of  The 
First  Part,  sig.  A3  verso).  In  the  second  place,  the  two  parts  were  in 
print  before  1585,  for  sometime  before  that  year  Thomas  Marshe,  a 
bookseller,  sold  to  Edward  Wingfield,  Esq.,  of  Kimbalton  Castle,  Hun- 
tingdonshire, among  various  other  books,  "Palmeryng,  2  parts."  {The 
Library,  Third  Series,  VII,  328).  As  no  edition  of  Palmerin  d'OIiva 
appeared  before  1588,  the  reference  here  must  be  to  Palmerin  of  England. 


40  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

In  the  third  place,  the  priority  of  the  first  two  parts  of  Palmerin  of  Eng- 
land to  Palmerin  d'Oliva  is  established  by  Munday's  epistle  "To  the 
Reader"  in  The  First  Part  of  the  latter  romance  (ed.  1637,  sig.  A4). 
Palmerin  of  England,  though  the  first  translated,  forms  in  reality  the  last 
part  of  the  Palmerin  cycle. 

1582 

Sir  Eglamour.    Lie.  to  John  Charlwood,  Jan.  15,  158 1-2. 
Stat.  Reg.,  II,  405.    The  copyright  belonged  formerly  to  Sampson 
Awdley. 

Kinge  Pontus.    Lie.  to  John  Charlwood,  Jan.  15,  158 1-2. 
Stat.  Reg.,  II,  405.    The  rights  in  "King  Pontus"  belonged  formerly 
to  Sampson  Awdley,  who  died  in  1575. 

The  ffoiire  Somies  of  Amon.     Lie.   to  Thomas   East, 
March  12,  158 1-2. 
Stat.  Reg.,  II,  408. 

Olyver  of  Castell.     Lie.   to  Thomas  East,   Mareh    12, 

1581-2. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  408. 

Arthur  of  Little  Britaine.     Thomas  East.     4°.     B.L. 

See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  14,  and  Coll.  and  Notes,  Fourth  Series,  12. 
The  copy  described  here  probably  belonged  to  the  edition  licensed  to 
East  on  March  la,  1581-82  {Stat.  Reg.,  II,  408). 

Gerileon  of  Englande.     For  Miles  Jennings,  1583.     4°. 
B.L. 

Bodl.  Jennings  acquired  Jugge's  rights  in  this  romance  on  April  6, 
1579  {Stat.  Reg.,  II,  351).  The  source  was  the  French  translation  by 
Estienne  de  Maison-neuve  (1572). 

The  Second  part  of  the  Myrror  of  Knyghthood.    Thomas 

East,  1583.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  Licensed  to  East  on  Aug.  24,  1582  {Stat.  Reg.,  II,  414). 
Between  this  "Second  part"  and  the  portion  of  the  romance  published  in 
1578  intervened  in  the  original  Spanish  two  "parts";  these  East  promised 
in  his  address  "To  the  Reader"  in  the  Second  part  to  issue  "with  as  much 
speede  as  may  be."  The  translation  was  made  by  R.P.  from  the  Spanish 
text. 

1 546-1 586 

Syr  Eglamour e  of  Artoys.    John  Walley.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.    The  date  can  be  fixed  only  within  the  extreme  limits  of  Wal- 
ley's  career. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  41 

1582-1586 

The  storye  of  the  most  noble  and  worthy  Kynge  Arthur. 
Thomas  East.    Fol.     B.L. 

Esdaile  (p.  97)  lists  two  editions  of  Malory  by  East,  one  in  the  B.M,, 
the  other  in  Univ.  Lib.,  Camb.  Both  are  undated.  Two  facts  serve  to 
place  one  or  both  of  them  between  1582  and  1586.  (i)  East's  license  to 
print  "Kinge  Arthure"  was  obtained  on  March  12,  1582  {Stat.  Reg.,  II, 
408).  (2)  A  copy  of  "K  Arthure  booke"  was  purchased  on  May  7, 
1586  for  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Rutland  (Hist.  MSS  Com.,  The  MSS 
of  .  .  .  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  IV,  388).  The  source  of  the  text  was  Cop- 
land's edition  of  1557. 

1586 

Paris  and  Vienna.  Lie.  to  Thomas  Purfoot,  Aug.  8, 
1586. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  453.    Described  in  the  entry  as  "an  old  booke." 

Valentine  and  Orson.  Lie.  to  Thomas  Purfoot,  Aug.  8, 
1586. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  453. 

1588 

Palmerin  d'Oliva.  J.  Charlwood,  1588.  4°.  B.L. 
See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  436.  Translated  from  the  French  by  Anthony 
Munday.  The  two  parts  of  the  work  as  Munday  divided  it  were  pub- 
lished separately  (see  his  address  "To  the  Reader"  in  The  First  Part, 
ed.  1637).  The  second  part  was  out  before  his  translation  oi Palladine  of 
England  (see  "To  the  Friendly  Readers"  in  Palmerin  d'Oliva,  The  Second 
Part,  ed.  1637). 

Palladine  of  England.  E.  AUde  for  L  Perin,  1588. 
4°.     B.L. 

Bridgewater.  A  translation  by  Munday  of  UHistoire  Palladienne 
(1555),  itself  a  translation  of  the  Spanish  romance,  Florando  de  Inglaterra 
(1545).  Though  often  connected  with  the  Palmerin  cycle  (as  by  Esdaile, 
108),  it  is  in  reality  as  independent  romance.  The  translation  was  in 
press  at  the  publication  of  the  Second  Part  of  Palmerin  d'Oliva  (see  the 
preceding  note).  The  same  work  was  licensed  to  V.  Syms  on  Nov.  12, 
1595  {Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  52)  and  to  John  Danter  on  Aug.  27,  1596  {ibid.^ 
Ill,  69). 

ca.  1589 

Syr  Bevis  of  Hampton.    Thomas  East.    4°.     B.L. 
Bodl.    The  date  is  fixed  approximately  by  the  address;  "Aldersgate 
Street  at  the  Sign  of  the  Black  Horse"  (see  Sayle,  Early  English  Printed 
Books  in  the  University  Library  Cambridge,  I,  317.) 


4a  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

1589 

Palmendos^  Sonne  to  the  famous  and  fortunate  Prince 
Palmerin  d'Oliva.  I.  C[harlwood]  for  S.  Watersonne, 
1589.     4°.     B.L. 

Huth  Collection.  A  translation  by  Munday  of  the  first  twenty  chap- 
ters of  Vernassal's  French  version  of  Primaleon  de  Grece.  Licensed  to 
Charlewood,  together  with  Primaleon  of  Greece,  Jan.  9,  1589,  {Stat. 
^^^•,11,513). 

Primaleon   of  Greece.     Lie.    to  John   Charlwood,   Jan. 

9,  1589. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  513. 

Amadis  de  Gaule.  Books  I-IV  lie.  to  Edward  Allde, 
Jan.  15,  1589. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  514.  The  entry  indicated  that  these  books  were  not 
yet  translated. 

1592 

Amadis  de  Gaule.    Books  II-V  lie.  to  John  Wolf,  Apr. 

10,  1592. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  607. 

Gerillion.  Parts  I,  III,  IV  lie.  to  Abel  Jeffes,  Oet.  6, 
1592. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  621. 

The  Second  Part  of  the  History  of  Gerileon  of  England. 
For  C.  Burbie,  1592.     4°. 

See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  47.  Translated  from  the  French  by  Anthony 
Munday.  On  August  8,  1592  the  right  to  translate  Le  Second  Livre  de 
.  .  .  Gfn7fow^'y/«^/f/^rrd' was  given  to  Thomas  Scarlett.  {Stat.  Reg.,\\,6icj) 

The   history    of  Palmeryn.     John    Charlwood's   copies 

transferred  to  James  Roberts,  May  31,  1594. 
Stat.  Reg.,  II,  651-652. 

Amadis  de  Gaule.     Books   II-XII   licensed   to   Adam 

Islip  and  W.  Moring,  Oct.  16,  1594. 
Stat.  Reg.,  II,  662. 

1595 

\The  first  Book  of  Amadis  of  Gaule.    1595?]    4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  7.    Translated  by  Anthony  Munday 
from  the  French  of  Herberay  des  Essarts. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  43 

The  Seconde  Booke  of  Amadis  de  Ganle.    For  C.  Burbie, 
1595.    4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  The  translator,  "Lazarus  Pyott,"  has  usually  been  identified 
with  Munday,  but  excellent  reasons  for  regarding  him  as  a  distinct  person, 
a  victim  of  Munday's  unscrupulousness,  have  been  set  forth  by  Henry 
Thomas  in  Transactions  of  the  Bibliographical  Society,  XIII,  1916,  135- 

Blanchardine  ...&...   Eglantine.     For  W.  Black- 
wall,  1595.     4°.     B.L. 

Britwell.  The  license  was  dated  May  10,  1595  {Stat.  Reg.,  298).  A 
new  version  of  the  romance,  the  work  of  Thomas  Pope  Goodwin.  See 
E.E.T.S.,  E.S.,  LVIII,  225-234. 

The  first  Booke  of  Primaleon  of  Greece.     For  C.  Burby, 
1595.    4°.     B.L. 

Private  library.  See  Esdaile,  108.  Translated  by  Anthony  Munday 
from  Vernassal's  L'Histoire  de  Primaleon  de  Grece.  The  license  for  the 
first  two  books  was  given  to  Burby  on  Aug.  10,  1594  {Stat.  Reg.,  II,  657). 
Before  that  John  Charlwood  had  held  the  copyright  (above  under  1589). 

The  Aimcient  Historie,  of  the  destruction  of  Troy.     T. 
Creede,    1596.     4°.     B.L. 

Bodl.    A  revision  of  Caxton's  Recuyell  by  William  Piston. 

The  historye  of  Sir  Mervyn  soyi  to  Ogyer  the  Dane.    Lie. 
to  Richard  Jones,  Feb.  3,  1595-6. 

Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  58.  There  is  no  trace  of  an  edition  of  this  romance 
earlier  than  that  of  161 2,  but  it  is  mentioned  by  Meres  in  1598  {Palladis 
Tamia,  in  Elizabethan  Critical  Essays,  ed.  Gregory  Smith,  II,  308-309). 

[Palmerin  of  England.    T.  Creede?]    1596.     4°. 
Britwell;  see  Esdaile,  109.    Two  parts  of  this  romance  were  licensed  to 
Creede  on  Aug.  9,  1596  {Stat..  Reg.,  Ill,  68). 

The  second  Book  of  Primaleon  of  Greece.  L  Danter  for 
C.  Burby,  1596.     4°.     B.L. 

Private  library;  see  Esdaile,  108.  Translated  from  the  French  by 
Munday. 

1597 

Blanchardine  and  Eglantine.     G.  Shaw  for  W.  Blackwall, 

^597.     4°.. 

Public  Library,  Hamburg.  A  reprint  of  the  1595  edition.  Cf. 
Stat.Reg.,\y,i,^^. 


44  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

The  Second  Part  of  .   .   .  Palmerin  d'Oliva.    T.  Creede, 

1597.  4°.     B.L. 

Private  library;  see  Esdaile,  107.  Two  parts  licensed  to  Creede  on 
Aug.  9,  1596  {Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  68). 

^598 

The  Honour  0/  Chivalrie.    Set  downe  in  the   .   .   .  Historic 

of  .   .   .  Don  Beiiianis.    T.  Creede,  1598.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  "Englished  out  of  Italian,  by  L.  A."  The  source  was  the 
Historia  del  Magnanimo  et  invincibil  Principe  Don  Be/ianis,  Ferrara, 
1586,  itself  a  translation  of  a  Spanish  original. 

The  first  parte  of  the  historic  of  Durine  of  Grece  Translated 
out  of  French  by  H.  W.  Lie.  to  Thomas  Purfoot  Sr.  and 
Jr.,  Dec.  8,  1598. 

Stat.  Reg.,  II,  132.     Book  IV  of  Primaleon  of  Greece. 

The  sixth  Booke  of  the  Myrrour  of  Knighthood.  Being 
the  first  Booke  of  the  third  Part.     E.  Allde  for  C.  Burby, 

1598.  4°.     B.L. 

Univ.  Lib.,  Camb.  Translated  by  R.  P.  from  the  Spanish  of  Pedro 
de  la  Sierra,  or  Marco  Martinez. 

The  Seventh  Booke  of  the  Myrrour  of  Knighthood.  Being 
the  Second  of  the  third  Part.  T.  Purfoot  for  C.  Burby,  1598. 
4°.     B.L. 

B.M.     The  dedication  is  signed  L.  A. 

The  Second  part  of  the  Myrror  oj  Knighthood.  T.  Este, 
1598.     4°.     B.L. 

Bodl.     A  reprint  of  the  1583  edition. 

^599 

The  history  of  the  iiij  sons  of  Aymon.    Lie.  to  Thomas 

Purfoot,  Feb.  5,  1598-9. 
Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  137. 

The  Last  part  of  the  ffowre  sonns  of  Aymon.     Lie.  to 
John  Wolf,  Feb.  22,  1598-9. 
Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  139. 

The  Second  part  of  the  first  Booke  of  the  Myrrour  of 

Knighthood.    T.  Este,  1599.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  Translated  from  the  Spanish  by  R.  P.  The  British  Museum 
contains  an  undated  edition  by  East  of  The  Third  Part  of  the  first  booke, 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  45 

which  probably  appeared  about  the  same  time.  It  is  possible  of  course 
that  both  of  these  impressions  were  reprints  of  earlier  editions.  In  the 
1583  edition  of  The  Second  part  East  had  promised  to  bring  out  "with  as 
much  speede  as  may  be"  the  two  intervening  parts,  namely,  the  second 
and  third  of  the  first  book. 

The  Eighth  Booke  of  the  Myrrour  ot  Knighthood.  Being 
the  third  or  the  third  Part.  T.  Creede  for  C.  Burby,  1599. 
4°.     B.L. 

B.M.     The  dedication  is  signed  L.A. 

1601 

The  Ninth  part  of  the  Mirrour  of  Knight-hood.  Being  the 
fourth  Booke  of  the  third  part  thereof.    For  C.  Burble,  1601. 

4°.     B.L. 

B.M.;  Univ.  Lib.,  Camb. 

The  Historic  of  Huon  of  Bordeaux.  T.  Purfoot,  1601. 
4°.     B.L. 

B.M.;  Bodl.  Described  on  the  title  page  as  "Being  now  the  Third 
time  imprinted,  and  the  rude  English  corrected  and  amended."  The 
variants  from  the  first  edition  are  given  by  Lee  in  his  E.E.T.S.  reprint. 
Purfoot's  rights  in  Huon  passed  at  his  death  to  his  son  {Stat.  Reg.,  Ill, 
576)and  in  1639  to  Thomas  Wright  {Stat.  Reg.,  IV,  454). 

1602 

The  Third  and  last  part  of  Palmerin  of  England.  L 
R[oberts]  for  William  Leake,  1602.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  A  translation  by  Munday  of  Mambrino  Roseo's  Palmerino 
d'Inghilterra,  Part  III  (1558),  an  Italian  continuation  of  the  Spanish 
Palmerin.  No  French  version  of  this  part  is  known.  The  license  for  The 
Third  Part  is  dated  March  10, 1595  {Stat.  Reg.,  II,  672). 

1607 

The  A  undent  Historie  of  the  destruction  of  Troy.     T. 

.    Creede,  1607.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.     A  reprint  of  Fiston's  revision  of  The  Recuyell. 

The  third  Book  of  Primaleon  of  Greece.    Lie.  to  Mistress 

Burby,  Oct.  6,  1607. 
Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  360. 

1609 

The  first  parte  of  the  Hystorye  of  Bon  Silves  de  Silva. 

Lie.  to  William  White,  May  29,  1609. 

Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  410.  The  thirteenth  book  of  Amadis  in  the  French 
translation. 


46  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

The  Fist  Part  of  .  .  .  Palmerin  of  England.  T.  Creede, 
1609.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.     A  reprint  of  Munday's  translation. 

1612 

The  most  Famous  and  renowned  Histoj-ie  of  .  .  .  Mer- 
vine,  Sonne  to  .  .  .  Oger  the  Dane.  R.  Blower  and  V. 
Sims,  1612.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  Translated  from  the  French  by  I.  M.  (  =  Gervase  Markham?). 
In  the  B.M.  copy  of  this  edition  the  second  part  is  bound  with  the  first  in 
continuous  pagination.  The  Dedication  of  Part  I,  however,  indicates 
that  that  part  originally  appeared  before  its  successor.  See  above  under 
1596. 

1616 

Palmerin  of  England.  T.  Creede  and  B.  Alsop,  1616. 
4°.     B.L. 

Private  library;  see  Esdaile,  109.    Contained  Parts  I  and  II. 

Palmerin  d'Oliva.  T.  C[reede]  and  R.  A.  for  R.  Higgen- 
botham,  1616.     4°.     B.L. 

Private  library;  see  Esdaile,  107.  Contained  the  first  and  second 
parts. 

1617 

The  A  undent  H  is  tori  e,  of  the  destruction  of  Troy  .   .   . 
The  fifth  Edition.    B.  Alsop,  1617.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     Piston's  revision. 

1618-1619 

The  Ancient^  Famous  and  Honourable  History  of  Amadis 
de  Gaule.  N.  Okes,  1619  (Books  I,  II),  1618  (Books  III, 
IV).     Fol. 

B.M.;  Newberry  Library,  Chicago.  Contains  the  first  four  books, 
I,  III,  and  IV  translated  by  Munday,  II  by  Lazarus  Pyott.  No  earlier 
edition  of  the  third  and  fourth  books  is  known.  In  his  dedication  of  the 
Fourth  Book  Munday  promised  translations  of  Books  V  and  VI. 

1619 

Primaleon  of  Greece.    T.  Snodham,  1619.     4°.     B.L. 
B.M.     Contains  the  first  three  books,  all  in  Munday's  translation. 
In  the  "Epistle  Dedicatorie"  of  Book  III  Munday  promised  a  version  of 
Book  IV,  a  copy  of  which  had  recently  come  into  his  possession. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  47 

1620 

Vienna:  no  art  can  cure  this  hart.  N.  Okes  for  John 
Pyper,  1620.     4°. 

Bodl.     See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  438.     A  new  version  by  Matthew 

Mainwaring. 

162I 

The  Honour  of  True  Love  and  Knighthood^  wherein  are 
storied  the  Noble  atchievements  of  Sir  Paris  of  Vienna  and  the 
f aire  Frincesse  Vienna.    B.  Alsop,  1621.     4°. 

See  Hazlitt,  Coll.  and  Notes,  318.    Mainwaring's  translation. 

ca.  1628 

Vienna.     G.  Percivall.     4°. 

B.M.  Mainwaring's  translation.  Licensed  to  Percivall  on  May  25, 
1628  {Stat.Reg.,\Y,  198). 

1634 

The  most  Ancient  and  Famous  History  of  the  renowned 

Frince  Arthur  King  of  Britaine.    W.  Stansby  for  I.  Bloome, 
1634.     4°.     B.L. 

B.M.  A  reprint  of  East's  edition  of  1 582-1 586,  the  rights  to  which 
Stansby  acquired  in  1626  from  Mistress  Snodham,  whose  husband  had 
taken  them  in  1609  at  East's  death  {Stat.  Reg.,  Ill,  413;  IV,  152-153). 
For  other  evidence  of  the  dependence  of  this  edition  upon  East's  see 
Sommer,  Le  Morte  Darthur,  II,  16-17. 

1636 

The  Auncient  Historic.,  of  the  destruction  of  Troy  .   .   . 
The  Sixth  Edition.     B.  x-\lsop  and  T.  Fawcet,   1636.     4°. 
B.L. 
Bodl. 

Before  1637 

Vienna.     No  Art  Can  Cure  This  Hart.     For  R.  Hawkins. 

Bodl.  Mainwaring's  translation.  Hawkins  was  dead  by  June  12, 
1637,  for  at  that  time  his  interest  in  Vienna  was  transferred  at  the  request 
of  his  widow  to  Mead  and  Meredith  {Stat.  Reg.,  IV,  420). 

1637 

Falmerin  d'Oliva.  B.  Alsop  and  T.  Fawcet,  1637.  4°. 
B.L. 

B.M.  Parts  I  and  II. 


48  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

Valentine  and  Orson.  T.  Purfoot,  1637.  4°.  B.L. 
B.M.  An  abridgment  of  the  version  printed  by  De  Worde  and 
Copland.  The  pubHsher  was  the  son  of  the  Thomas  Purfoot  to  whom  the 
romance  was  licensed  in  1586  {Stat.  Reg.,  II,  453;  III,  576).  On  Feb.  i, 
1638-9  the  younger  Purfoot's  rights  were  assigned  to  Thomas  Wright 
(/•^/W.,  IV,  454). 

1626-I 639 

Syr  Bevis  of  Hampton.    William  Stansby.     4°. 

See  Hazlitt,  Handbook,  38.  The  date  of  this  edition  can  be  placed 
only  within  the  above  limits.  In  1626  Stansby  acquired  the  right  to 
print  Syr  Bevis  which  had  formerly  been  in  the  possession  of  Thomas 
Snodham,  to  whom  it  had  passed  from  Thomas  East.  In  1639  his  right 
was  transferred  at  his  death  to  Richard  Bishop.  See  Stat.  Reg.,  Ill, 
413;  IV,  152-153,  458-460.  Not  only  do  these  facts  throw  light  on  the 
date;  they  also  show  that  the  version  printed  by  Stansby  was  a  reprint  of 
that  published  by  East. 

The  British  Museum  has  an  undated  edition  of  Syr  Bevis,  printed  by 
C.W.  for  W.  Lee,  which  the  Catalogue  dates  "1620?" 

1639 

The  First  and  Second  Parts  of  Palmerin  of  England. 

B.  Alsop  and  T.  Fawcet,  1639.    4°-     ^-L- 
B.M. 

1639-1650 

Sir  Bevis  of  Hampton.    Richard  Bishop.     4°. 
Bodl.     See  note  under  1 626-1 639  above.     Bishop  printed  until  1649- 
1650. 

II. 

MODERN  WORKS  RELATING  TO  THE  REPUTATION  AND  INFLUENCE 

OF  THE  MEDIEVAL  ROMANCES  DURING  THE   ENGLISH 

RENAISSANCE 

/  have  omitted  from  this  section  of  the  bibliography  all  merely 
general  works  such  as  the  studies  of  the  novel  by  Raleigh  and 
Jusserand,  ''The  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature.,'' 
etc.,  and  all  collections  or  editions  of  texts  mentioned  in  their 
appropriate  places  under  section  I. 

Arber,  Edward  (ed,).  The  Register  of  the  Stationers'  Com- 
pany, 1^^4-1640.     5  vols.     London,  1 875-1 894. 

Ayres,  H.  M.  "The  Faerie  ^ueene  and  Jmis  and  Jmiloun.'* 
Modern  Language  Notes,  XXIII,  1908,  177. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  49 

Barwick,  G.  F.    a  Book  bound  for  Mary  ^ueen  of  Scots  .   .   . 

with  Notes  on  other  Books  bearing  ^ueen  Mary's  Insignia. 

London,  for  the  Bibliographical  Society,  1901. 
Baskervill,    C.    R.      "An    EHzabethan    Eglamour     Play." 

Modern  Philology,  XIV,  1917,759-760. 
Baskervill,   C.   R.     "Some   Evidence   for    Early    Romantic 

Plays  in  England."     Modern  Philology ,  XIV,  191 6,   229- 

251,467-512. 
Brie,  Friedrich.     "Roman  und  Drama  in  Zeitalter  Shake- 

speares."     Jahrbuch  der  deutschen  Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, 

XLVIII,  1912, 125-147. 
Brunhuber,  K.     Sir  Philip  Sidneys  Arcadia  und  ihre  Nach- 

I'dufer.    Niirenburg,  1903. 
Claudin,   a.     Histoire  de  Vlmprimerie  en  France  au    XV^ 

et  auXVI^  silcle.    3  vols.    Paris,  1 900-1 904. 
Crane,   R.   S.     "The   Reading  of  an   Elizabethan   Youth." 

Modern  Philology,  XI,  19 13,  269-271. 
Crane,  R.  S.    "The  Vogue  of  Guy  of  Warwick  from  the  Close  of 

the  Middle  Ages  to  the  Romantic  Revival."     Publications 

of  the  Modern  Language  Association,  XXX,  191 5,  125-194. 
D'EvELYN,   Charlotte.     "Sources   of  the   Arthur   Story   in 

Chester's  Loves  Martyr T    Journal  of  English  and  Germanic 

Philology,X\Y,  1915,75-88. 
Ellison,  L.  M.     The  Early  Romantic  Drama  at  the  English 

Court.     University   of   Chicago    Dissertation.      Menasha, 

Wis.,  George  Banta,  1917. 
EsDAiLE,  Arundell.    A  List  of  EngUsh  Tales  and  Prose  Roman- 
ces Printed  before  1740.     London,  for  the  Bibliographical 

Society,  191 2. 

Fletcher,  J.  B.  "Huon  of  Burdeux  and  the  Faerie  Queene." 
The  Journal  of  English  and  Germanic  Philology,  II,  1898, 

203-212. 

Fletcher,  R.  H.  The  Arthurian  Material  in  the  Chronicles 
especially  those  of  Great  Britain  and  France.  [Harvard] 
Studies  and  Notes,  vol.  X,  1906. 

FuRNivALL,  F.  J.  (ed.).  Captain  Cox's  Ballads  and  Books. 
London,  Ballad  Society,  1871. 


50  MEDIEVAL  CHIVALRIC  ROMANCE 

Hall,  E.  A.  "Spenser  and  Two  Old  French  Grail  Romances." 
P.M.L.A.,  XXVIII,  1913,  539-554. 

Hand-lists  of  Books  Printed  by  London  Printers^  i§oi-i^^6. 
London,  for  the  Bibliographical  Society,  1913. 

Hazlitt,  W.  C.  Handbook  to  the  Popular  and  Dramatic  Litera- 
ture of  Great  Britain.    London,  1867. 

KoEPPEL,  E.  "The  Prince  of  the  Burning  Crowne  and  Pal- 
merin  d'Oliva."  Archivfilr  das  Studium  der  neueren  Sprach- 
en  und  Literaturen^  C,  1898,  23-30. 

KoEPPEL,  E.  "Reflexe  der  Ritter-Romane  im  Drama." 
Ben    Jonsons    Wirkung    auf   zeitgenossische    Di'amatickery 

1906,  195-222. 

KoEPPEL,   E.     "Spensers   'Blatant   Beast.*  "     Jrchiv,   XCV, 

1893,  164-168. 
Macarthur,  J.  R.    "The  Influence  of  Huon  of  Burdeux  upon 

the   Fairie   Oueene."     Journal  of  English   and  Germanic 

Philology^  IV,  1902,  215-238. 
Maynadier,    Howard.      The   Arthur   of  the   English  Poets. 

Boston,  1907. 
Murch,  H.  S.  (ed.).     The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle.    Yale 

Studies  in  English,  XXXIII,  1908. 
DE  Perott,    Joseph.      "Beaumont    and    Fletcher    and    the 

Mirrour  of  Knighthood.''     Modern  Language  Notes,  XXII, 

1907,  76-78. 

DE  Perott,  Joseph.     "Die  Hirtendichtung  des  Feliciano  de 

Silva  und  Shakespeares  Wintermarchen."    Archiv,  CXXX, 

1913.53-56- 
DE    Perott,    Joseph.      "The  Mirrour  of  Knighthood."     The 

Romanic  Review,  IV,  19 13,  397-402. 
DE  Perott,  Joseph.     "Robert  Greenes  Entlehnung  aus  dem 

Ritter Spiegel.''    Englische  Studien,  Bd.  39,  1908,  308-309. 
Plomer,  H.  R.     "Books  Mentioned  in  Wills."     Transactions 

of  the  Bibliographical  Society,  VII,  1902-1904,  99-121. 
Plomer,  H.  R.    "An  Inventory  of  Wynkyn  de  Worde's  House, 

'The  Sun  in  Fleet  Street,'  in  1553."     The  Library,  Third 

Series,  VI,  191 5,  228-234. 
Plomer,    H.    R.      "The     Lawsuits     of    Richard     Pynson." 

The  Library,  New  Series,  X,  1909,  1 15-133. 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE  51 

Plomer,  H.  R.  "Some  Elizabethan  Book  Sales."  The  Library y 
Third  Series,  VII,  1916,  318-329. 

Tatlock,  J.  S.  P.  "The  Siege  of  Troy  in  Elizabethan  Litera- 
ture, Especially  in  Shakespeare  and  Heywood."  P.M.L.A.j 
XXX,  1915,  673-770. 

Thomas,  Henry.  "The  Palmerin  Romances."  Transactions 
of  the  Bibliographical  Society ^  XIII,  1913-1915,  97-144. 

Thomas,  Henry.  "The  Romance  of  Amadis  of  Gaul."  Tran- 
sactions of  the  Bibliographical  Society^  XI,  1909-1911,  251- 

TiEjE,  A.  J.     "The   Critical  Heritage  of  Fiction  in   1579." 

Englische  Studien,  Bd.  47,  19 14,  415-448. 
Walther,    Marie.      Malorys   Einfluss   auf  Spensers   Faerie 

^ueene.    Eisleben,  1898. 
Ward,  H.  L.  D.    Catalogue  of  Romances  in  the  Department  of 

Manuscripts   of  the   British   Museum.     3    vols.     London, 

1883-1910. 
Warton,  Thomas.    Observations  on  the  Fairy  ^ueen  of  Spenser. 

New  Edition.    2  vols.    London,  1807. 


INDEX  OF  ROMANCES 

Amadis  de  Gaule,  n,  i6,  17,  18,  19,  Ipomedon,  5,  n,  34 

ai,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  29,  37,  42,  Isumbras,  Sir,  2,  5,  6,  10,  14, 33y  3^ 

43',  45,' 46  Jason,  3,  5,  30,  31 

Amis  and  Amiloun,  10  Jeast  of  Sir  Gawain,  6,  34,  35, 36 

Arthur  of  Little  Britain,  6,  15,  20,  Knight  of  Courtesy,  6,  38 

37,  40 

Awntyrs  of  Arthur,  2  Lamwell,  Sir,  6,  36 

Lancelot  du  Lake,  8, 1 1, 12 

Bellianis,  16,  17,  19,  29,  44  ^,  ,.   ^ 

Bevis  of  Hampton,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  1°,  Mehadus,  24 

12,13,14,18,19,^0,21,27,28,  Melusme,!! 

.9,3^,33,36,37,38,41,48  Merhn,2,7 

Blanchardine  and  Eglantine,  3, 4,  I5>      f^''"'"'';^; '-V  ' ',     ,,    ,,    ,0 

Mirror  of  Knighthood,   16,   17,   19, 

^^''^^'  22,24,25,26,39,40,44,45 

Charles  the  Great  3,  9,  30  Morte  Arthuie  (metrical),  2, 7 

T^  c-     .    A  n   o.    06   -JT  Morte  Darthur  (Malory),  2, 3, 4, 6,  8, 

Degore,  S,r  5,  6  9, 34, 36, 37  ^      ^  ,3_         ,„_  ,,_ 

Degrevant,  S,r,  .  9' ^  ^^_  ^^_  ^3_  ^^_  ^^_  ^^^  ^^_  ^^^ 

Eglamour,  Sir,  2,  5,  6,  7,  9,  10,  14,  41^  ^y 

25,^8,31,37,40  Octavian,2 

Fierabras,  3, 30  Ogier  le  Danois,  8, 12 

Floras  and  Blancheflour,  1 1  Oliver  of  Castile,  5,  13,  I5>  ^9,  3^, 

Four  Sons  of  Aymon,  2,  3,  4,  6,  9,  10,  ^q 

13,  15,  19,  .0,  24,  25,  31,  32,  36,  p^ii,dine  of  England,  16, 17,  I9,4i 

'^°'  "^^  Palmendos,  17,  19,  4^ 

Generides,  5,  7,  n,  34,  3^  Palmerin  d'Oliva,  16,  17,  19,  28,  41, 

Gerileon  of  England,  16,  19,  39,  40,  44,46,47 

42  Palmerin  of  England,  17,  24,  28,  29, 

Graal,  Conte  du,  23,  27,  35  ^9,  4^,  43,  45,  4^,  48 

Guy  of  Warwick,  5,6,7,8,  9, 10, 12,  p^^jg  ^^j  Vienne,  3,  4,  5,  6,  n,   i5> 

13,  14,  18,  19,  20,  24,  25,  26,  27,  24,28,31,33,34,41,47 

28,  29,  31, 32, 38,  39  Parthenope,  1 1 

■^  Helyas,  Knight  of  the  Swan,  4,  5,  Perceforest,  2,  25 

6,  9,  32,  38  Perceval,  Sir,  2 

Huon  of  Bordeaux,  5,  7,  ^3,  ^5,  ^9,  Ponthus  and  Sidoma,  2,  4,  6,  10,  11, 

20,25,27,35,39,45  i5,32,35>40 

5^ 


DURING  THE  ENGLISH  RENAISSANCE 


53 


Primaleon  of  Greece,  17,  19,  22,  42, 

43>  44>  45>  46 
Recuyell  of  the  Historyes  of  Troye, 

2j  3>  4,  6,  9,  10,  15,  24,  28,  30,  32, 

35>  43^  45>  46,  47 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  5,  7,  9,  32, 

33,3^ 
Robert  the  Devil,  5,  10,  26,  34 


Squire  of  Low  Degree,  5,  6,  10,  20, 

^7, 33, 36, 38 
Torrent  of  Portugal,  5, 34 
Triamour,  Sir,  5,  6,  34,  37 
Tristram,  Sir,  20,  23,  25 
Valentine  and  Orson,  5,  6,  11,   15, 

20,25,28,29,35,36,38,41,48 
William  of  Palerne,  5, 12, 23 


14DAVS»«»*°^ 


FROM 


This 
or 


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(Q?i"78Bl 


RETURN       CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 
TOh^       202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

1 -month  loans  nnay  be  renewed  by  calling  642-3405 

6-month  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books  to  Circulation  Desk 

Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  due  date 

DUE   AS  STAMPED   BELOW 

iN  STACKS 

:    -:  1977 

REC.  CIK.AUB  ?:'■  77 

FORM  NO.  DD  6, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA   94720 


